Like a child

Linda Pollock March 05, 2018 0 0

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2 Kings 5: 1-15

5 Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favour with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. 2 Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, ‘If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.’ 4 So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. 5 And the king of Aram said, ‘Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.’

He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. 6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, ‘When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy.’ 7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, ‘Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.’

8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, ‘Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.’ 9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ‘Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.’ 11 But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, ‘I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?’ He turned and went away in a rage. 13 But his servants approached and said to him, ‘Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, “Wash, and be clean”?’ 14 So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.

15 Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, ‘Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant.’

If I had been kidnapped by a foreign army and forced to serve in the household of that army’s renowned General, I may not have been as gracious as the unnamed young servant girl of that General’s wife. But this child sets the example for adults (just as Jesus suggests in Matthew 18) in telling her mistress of the Prophet who can heal her husband.

Rich in every way possible, Naaman thinks that status and wealth will cause Elisha to meet with him face to face and call on God to heal. 

Poor Naaman, his expectations are skewed, and his pride leads him to anger. But he listens to his servants, he shows he is capable of humility, he understands that compared to God he is nothing… yet to God he is everything. 

When we glimpse the vastness of God’s love for us, when we are humble like a child, 

then we can receive from God’s abundance.

Holy God, 

give me eyes to see Your steadfast love, 

ears to hear Your call, 

a heart to receive Your love 

and a mind set on following You. 

Amen.