“If the axe is dull and he does not sharpen its edge, then he must exert more strength. Wisdom has the advantage of giving success.” Ecclesiastes 10:10 (LSB)

In a section where Solomon is writing about the necessity of wisdom in everyday life, the image of a man who must risk danger by man splitting logs (v. 9) is interrupted with sage counsel that could almost seem contradictory at first.

There is some risk involved in chopping wood with an axe. The axe might glance off to one side of the log, or it might miss the log altogether and return to strike the shin of the woodsman. The experienced logger might say that experience and correct form, with some safety precautions, would remove almost all dangers. But here is the counsel that seems to not make sense to the inexperienced log-splitter–sharpen your axe!

Now, if I am worried I might hurt myself because I don’t have a clue about what I am doing, I might think that sharpening this heavy instrument that can split a wood log (and my leg) would be foolish. But Solomon states that if you don’t sharpen your axe, your dull edge will require you to exert even more energy to accomplish less work. And as any cook will tell you, a dull knife (and a dull axe, for that matter) is more dangerous because all of the extra energy needed to make it accomplish the same work means you are more likely to wield that knife or axe more haphazardly.

But that still doesn’t answer the question as to why the wisest man on earth (outside of Jesus Christ) would waste time telling his readers to sharpen their axes. The answer is that he isn’t actually talking about the wood-splitting tool, but rather the use of wisdom to guide us in life: “…Wisdom has the advantage of giving success.” If we prepare our minds (the axe) for the work we have been given (splitting wood), we will be able to accomplish the work God has given us with more accuracy, speed, and ability. Sometimes we don’t take the time to sharpen our minds. We reason that we are too busy with the Lord’s work to do the heavy lifting required to think deeply about the Word, theology, and the world we live in. The church is filled with drive-thru Christians who want their Christianity to be fast, simple, and mediocre. They are okay leaving the deep thinking to someone else.

But life is funny in that it doesn’t present problems only to the people who think deeply about how theology applies to life. The average Christian will be faced with ethical dilemmas like whether they should turn off life support for a loved one, how they should think about infertility treatments, or what to do when a parent grows older and what their responsibility is as an adult child. Questions regarding how to interact with a homosexual coworker, an abusive brother-in-law, and a cheating neighbor who asks us to keep their secret to ourselves are all too real. When that “log” of a problem sits down to talk with you over coffee, what will you do? Will your axe be sharp enough? If you can’t handle the problem, it isn’t because the Bible doesn’t have an answer. Maybe it’s because you failed to sharpen that axe.