For years I’ve taken the proverb in Today’s Holy Nougat quite literally, without ‘fact-checking’ the details of its scope. How about you, did you ever think of it?
Proverbs 27:17 CEVDCI
[17] Just as iron sharpens iron, friends sharpen the minds of each other.
Iron Sharpening Iron
It’s funny. While I’ve never actually pictured iron being sharpened pencil style, my mind did think of iron as looking like horseshoes or long pieces of construction steel. Had I thought about it practically, it wouldn’t make sense – steel posts don’t need to be sharpened – but I probably needed the right friend to help me think it through.
Self-Check
What kind of a friend are we? How effective are we at helping those we care about, especially in things that edify and uplift?
Application
As implied by the introduction, I went ahead and checked on the process for sharpening iron. Siblings, it is not as simple as presented. At the time this proverb was written, iron was in vogue, and used for creating sharper, cheaper tools and weapons. Iron replaced bronze, as it was was more accessible to the average person. Yet, not everyone sharpened their own tools or weapons. Because, though somewhat malleable, iron did not readily wear down or out. It required friction, heat, and skill to transform dull edges into worthy tools or weapons; especially if iron was being used for the sharpening process.
These two concepts suggest to me that the sharpening process isn’t accidental. It is a deliberate process managed by the farrier (blacksmith). If we recall that ironware included horseshoes, swords, ‘sickles, saws, knives, and files, along with crafting tools like wood poles lathes, sewing needles, and spinning wheels’ (Quoted section courtesy of Google AI), then it becomes quickly apparent that iron had become essential to daily life. Subsequently, sharpening required special skills by someone who not only understood how the metal worked, but who had a sense of the specialisation required for each iron tool before sharpening.
A needle needed a finely sharpened tip, like a sword. But it was much tinier. The sharpening tool would not be the same, even though it may also be iron, and the pressure needed for the process would also be different. Sickles, saws, and knives were flatter, but their overall shapes were not the same. Pounding worked, but each needed to be individually shaped by the farrier’s precise actions with the anvil, grinder, and fire.
Siblings, this tells us that friends are essential and they serve different purposes in each other’s lives. And each friendship is forged through it’s own process. The friend that stitches is not to be treated like the friend who defends, or the one who cultivates; nor should we expect all our friendships to be sharpened (strengthened and maintained) in the same way. If we are friends (iron tools), then we are not the blacksmith. That’s God’s job.
Yes.
God knows how much pressure, heat, and shaping to apply to each person so that they enhance the other’s life. It’s true that God may utilise the services of specially chosen and trained persons to assist in the process ( pastors, counsellors, and even therapists), but the best of these assistants ought to be guided by the Master Farrier Who created and thus understands us, the tools, when presented in the smithy.
Another aspect of this comparison comes from the ‘expert’. A chef is likely to be the first to realize that the knives need sharpening, because cooking is their craft. It’s the same with a farmer with ploughing tools, a warrior with swords, and a designer with needles. It requires an expert therefore, to take the tools to the farrier and await the farrier’s skillful intervention. We are not only the iron, we are also the experts who are taking the irons to God when wear and tear sets in on our friends and friendships.
Tools undergo wear and tear in relation to their care and usage. The more a tool is used, it is expected that it will need sharpening more frequently. Yet, a tool that isn’t cared for might not get regular sharpening, but, when it finally gets to the forge, will likely undergo different treatment to restore is lustre and efficacy. How we treat our friends determine the strength and degree of support we can expect from them. Let’s handle our friendships with care.
It is true that iron can sharpen iron. Yet it requires expert management by the farrier. Otherwise, there’s lots of friction without much benefit to the two pieces of iron. Usually the heavier piece of iron shapes and sharpens the other – but not without losing something of itself in the process. We need to have friends to sharpen us even as we offer ourselves to sharpen others. My prayer for each of us is that we walk into our true purpose as friends, offering the support needed and open to receiving same in seasons of weakness.
Point to Ponder
How often do we take the time to examine our friendships and place them before the Master Farrier? Are we in need of sharpening in any specific area of our lives? Let’s take it to our Master Farrier today.
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May all we seek be found in Christ
