Tuesday, February
5, 2019
The king of Aram had great admiration for Naaman, the commander of his army, because through him the Lord had given Aram great victories. But though Naaman was a mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy. At this time Aramean raiders had invaded the land of Israel, and among their captives was a young girl who had been given to Naaman’s wife as a maid. One day the girl said to her mistress, “I wish my master would go to see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal him of his leprosy.” So Naaman told the king what the young girl from Israel had said. “Go and visit the prophet,” the king of Aram told him. “I will send a letter of introduction for you to take to the king of Israel.” So Naaman started out, carrying as gifts 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and ten sets of clothing. The letter to the king of Israel said: “With this letter I present my servant Naaman. I want you to heal him of his leprosy.” When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes in dismay and said, “Am I God, that I can give life and take it away? Why is this man asking me to heal someone with leprosy? I can see that he’s just trying to pick a fight with me.” But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes in dismay, he sent this message to him: “Why are you so upset? Send Naaman to me, and he will learn that there is a true prophet here in Israel.” So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and waited at the door of Elisha’s house. But Elisha sent a messenger out to him with this message: “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored, and you will be healed of your leprosy.” But Naaman became angry and stalked away. “I thought he would certainly come out to meet me!” he said. “I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me! Aren’t the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than any of the rivers of Israel? Why shouldn’t I wash in them and be healed?” So Naaman turned and went away in a rage. But his officers tried to reason with him and said, “Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, ‘Go and wash and be cured!’” So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. And his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child, and he was healed! 2 Kings 5:1-14(NLT)
Naaman was a powerful warrior who had
leprosy, an ancient aids-like diagnosis; no matter your military prowess, this
was a sentence of death. Frantically
willing to grasp at any straw of promise, Naaman carried a huge gift to the
King of Israel to persuade him to pressure the prophet into healing his
leprosy. One estimate of the silver,
gold and designer clothes approaches $1 million.[ii] Healthcare has never been cheap, but that’s
another story.
Naaman got healed despite himself. If you survey the Scriptures, you’ll find
that God always humbles the proud and exalts the humble. If paying a million bucks to fend off the
grim reaper wasn’t a sure thing, there was also the veiled threat that if
Naaman didn’t get his request, the King of Aram, who had already defeated
Israel in battle, would not be happy. Naaman
missed it entirely that you cannot buy God with gold, nor intimidate Him with
your power. I can imagine a little laugh
echoing in heaven’s halls as God watches the mortal military genius flexing his
leprosy-covered muscles.
Well the story displays a typical
attitude of the privileged and powerful, supposing even the prophet of God
would come bowing, scraping, and ready to cater to Naaman’s every wish. It didn’t happen that way; Elisha sent his
servant to the door and told the General to go take a bath in the muddy Jordan. Dip seven times like a bobbing fish lure and
see what happens. This didn’t please Naaman
at all, but his servants brought a little reason to the table, and convinced
the dying, but proud man to do as the prophet had ordered.
In the end, Naaman learned a
little humility can be a powerful friend; he also learned faith is not only the
evidence of things not seen[iii],
it is also the very substance of reason, which is doing things in God’s world
the way God the Creator designed it.
For You Today
You
chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.
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[iii] Hebrews 11:1
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