Sharpen the Ax

“If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom [is] profitable to direct.” (Ec 10:10 AV)

What is more dangerous?  A razor-sharp ax or a dull one?  What takes more effort to fell a tree?  A sharp ax or a dull one?  The answer to both is the dull ax.  The Latter is obvious.  The former, not so much.  In both cases, the sharper the ax, the safer and more efficient the tool.  Wisdom is compared to a razor-sharp ax.  The application is obvious.  Wisdom would say to sharpen the ax before a task is started.  The fool would pick up an ax without testing it.  And a fool would continue the task without sharpening the ax once it was discovered dull.  The word ‘direct’ is a perfect word here.  The dull edge does not have a decisive direction.  It flies wherever the tree would force it.  The dull blade would be subject to the resistance of the object upon which it was forced.  A sharp edge, however, would dictate the direction against resisting forces.  The sharp edge sets the direction.  Not the resistance against it.

Having been taught many outdoorsman skills, I can attest to the truth above.  Having to fell trees for my father, a sharp ax was a must.  He taught us how to sharpen and an.  It took time.  We had no grinding stone upon which to turn the ax head.  It all had to be done be hand.  We took sticks and stabbed them into the ground at a thirty-degree angle at the base to each other.  Like an ‘A’ without the cross stroke.  Four or more sticks lined in two rows at the precise angle for the sharpest edge.  We simply lay the ax head against one side or the other we used the sticks as a guide to sharpen the ax to a fifteen-degree edge on both sides.  First, we would start with a course file.  Working our way down, we would end with a fine whetstone.  This took a bit of time.  In our immaturity, we thought we could have easily chopped a tree or two down in the time it took to sharpen an ax.  Every few trees, we would use the whetstone to hone the edge.  Keeping the ax sharp meant more time in the beginning, but less time and effort over the long term.

Have you ever heard the phrase “work smarter, not harder”?  This is the idea here.  The more wisdom we get, the easier life becomes.  It is hard work gaining that wisdom.  There are hard lessons to learn.  I have scars on my body to prove it.  There is the left hand that was crushed in a mixing bowl that has been slightly crippled since.  I have burn marks from pizza ovens.  There are scars from knives and axes to prove the proverb true.   We often complain of the hard times of life.  But some of them are our own doing.  Being foolish comes with scars.  The answer is to whet the blade.  The answer is to learn from our mistakes.  The answer is to go to the word of God, learn it, hide it in the heart, then ask the Holy Spirit to bring it all to remembrance.  A dull ax hurts a bunch.  I know.  A sharp ax will bury itself in the trunk of a tree.