This is
such a wonderful story. I think it says
a lot about human nature.
You’ve got Naaman. He’s described as “a mighty warrior”. Now, physical strength and courage are still
admired today, but they were admired a lot more back when this was
written. To have been called a “mighty
warrior”, Naaman must have really been an impressive guy.
But he has a problem. He has leprosy. Now, “leprosy” was kind of a catch-all term that covered a lot of
different skin diseases, so we don’t know exactly what Naaman’s illness
actually was, but it was obviously something that bothered him quite a bit,
because as soon as he found out that there was someone who could cure him, he
asked for permission to go to that person.
But look at what happens here. First, like so many of us, Naaman did not
really listen to what he was told.
Naaman was told this person who could cure him was a prophet, but he did
not go to Israel looking for a prophet.
He went to the king. He just
assumed that if he wanted something done, something that took great power, he
had to go to the head of the government to get it done. He did not listen to what was actually said
to him.
I’m imagining being the King of
Israel. You’re sitting in your palace
one day, minding your own business, doing whatever it was a king did back then,
and you’re told there’s this mighty warrior outside who’s got a letter from a
neighboring king. You read the letter,
and you sees this king expects him to cure the warrior of leprosy.
You’d kind of be freaked out,
right? The actual king sure was. He’s going, “What? So this guy has leprosy.
What am I supposed to do about it?
Am I supposed to wave my wand and somehow magically cure this guy? What’s this all about?” And then he thinks about it, and he starts
to get scared. He thinks, maybe this is
just an excuse for this other king to go to war with me. He demands this guy be healed, and when I
don’t do it, because I can’t, he says “Okay, then, since you did not do what I
wanted, I’m going to take over your country.”
Then Elisha hears about this, and he
to the king, “Hey, don’t worry about it.
Send him to me. I’ll take care
of it.” And the king does. We’re not told what the king expected Elisha
to do, but he’s probably thinking this is his out. He’s done what so many of us try to find a way to do—he’s passed
the buck. He’ll send Naaman to Elisha,
and if Elisha fails to cure him, he can say “I did all I could. I sent Naaman to my best guy. It’s not my fault it didn’t work, it’s
Elisha’s fault.” Again, it’s human
nature at work—if you don’t think you can do what you’re supposed to do, find
someone to blame.
So Naaman goes to Elisha, and Naaman
makes a production out of this. He
takes all his horses and all his chariots to Elisha’s house. Plus, remember, he’s got a lot of money with
him, too: ten talents of silver and ten
thousand shekels of gold. I don’t know
exactly what that would translate into in dollars, but it’s a lot. Naaman wants to make sure Elisha knows that
a Very Important Person has come to see him.
Again, we have human nature at work:
when all want to feel important, and we all want other people to know
just how important we are.
Elisha is not impressed. He does not even come out to see
Naaman. Instead, he just sends a note
that says “go wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River and you’ll be
okay.”
And again, we see human nature. Naaman is outraged. Here he is, this incredibly strong,
courageous man, and Elisha does not even bother to come out of his house to see
him. Not only does Elisha not seem to
know how important Naaman is, he does not recognize how serious Naaman’s
illness is. Wash himself in the
river? If this skin disease could be
washed off, he’d have done that a long time ago. This is something that calls for something dramatic. This is something that calls for something
miraculous. Naaman is prepared to pay a
huge sum for his cure. He’s also
prepared to do something big and bold to earn his cure; after all, he’s a
brave, mighty warrior. He’s prepared
for all this and what does he get? A
note that says “wash yourself in the river.
Ridiculous. This guy claims to
be a prophet, and he does not even seem to know what’s going on.
Finally, though, Naaman is convinced
to do what Elisha told him to. And, lo
and behold, it worked. Naaman was
healed.
Here’s the point. Too often, we look for God in big
things. We pray for God to do huge,
dramatic things to help us through whatever we think we need help with. God does do that, sometimes, but more often,
God acts in small ways.
I can see that so many times when I
look back over my life. I’ll bet you
can, too. I see the number of things
that had to happen so perfectly for me to have done the things I’ve done in my
life. I see the number of things that
had to happen in exactly the right way for me to meet Wanda. I see the number of things that had to fall
into place for me to become a pastor.
There were a few big things that happened, but most of them were small
things, little things, things that I did not even notice when they were
happening. God was working in all kinds
of ways in my life, and I did not even realize it.
God is at work in us all our
lives. God is at work in us when we’re
children. God is at work in us when
we’re young adults. God is at work in
us when we’re middle aged. God is at
work in us when we’re older, too. God
never stops working in our lives.
No matter what you may be going
through right now, I hope you can realize that. We worship a God who never slumbers nor sleeps. Even when we’re not aware of it, God is at
work in our lives. No matter how you
may feel or what your situation is right now, God is at work for you. God is always there.
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