God is the master sharpener!

When I was a little boy I used to enjoy helping my dad sharpen the teeth on the sickle arm of our hay mower.  It was a long arm with what seemed like dozens of triangular blades attached to it.  From time to time it needed sharpening.  Over time and from hard use the blades would become dark and dull.  If left in that condition they would eventually become useless and might as well be thrown away.  So that would not happen Dad would take the sickle arm off the mowing machine, take it into our tool shed, turn on his grinding wheel on the workbench and begin.  My job was to support the end opposite of where Dad was sharpening.  I liked the shower of sparks that flew off the grinding wheel.  It was like a little fireworks show right there in the tool shed.  As my end of the sickle arm got closer to the wheel the sparks would sometimes land on me.  I remember being amazed that they weren’t hot to the touch at all.  They were airborne for an instant and then gone.

Another thing I liked was the sound it made.   The rhythm of the blades being run across the wheel had a cadence to it.  I sometimes wonder if it was things like that that got me interested in playing drums or if it was an innate enjoyment of beat and rhythm that made the sharpening process so much fun to hear.

Sharpening that sickle arm was a matter of art and skill.  The angle had to be just right.  If the angle between blade and grinding wheel was too flat the blade wouldn’t sharpen, if it was too steep it would blunt the edge.  Pressure was key, too.  After long years of doing this task, Dad knew just how hard to push the blade into the grinder and just how long to hold it there.  Again, hold it too long or push it too hard and the blade would be blunted beyond usefulness.  But get the pressure just right -and hold it there just long enough and that blade would have an edge like a razor – ready for the work ahead.

Have you ever considered that this is what it’s like for God when he allows hardship and trials to touch our lives?  He holds us in his loving, steady and experienced hands.  He knows just how long each trial can stay and just how much pressure we can take.  He knows our limit, and is careful never to exceed it.  But he also knows that with proper pressure and timing, the grinding wheel of trial and trouble can actually serve the purpose of sharpening our faith.  It can give us the kind of “edge” that makes us ready for the next challenges that will come our way as we live in a broken world that can so often be hostile to our faith. 

Of course, on our part, it seems hard and scary, doesn’t it?  The edge of our lives where the pressure or trial comes gets heated up.  There’s a shower of sparks. We are instinctively aware that those little sparks are actually pieces of us being ground away.  “When will this end?”  we wonder.  “Will there be any of me left?” we ask.

But then the trial passes, life cools off, and we discover that we were never in danger at all.  God has sharpened our understanding of his grace and wisdom.  He’s put a finer edge on our faith.  We’ve become a more useful tool in his hands.  And the place where the old edge was ground away is shiny and new.   God always gets it right.  Rest in his hands.  He is the master craftsman of your faith.