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Getting what you need from God 2 Kings 5:1-15 Cancer. Lupus. Typhoid. Diseases that catch our attention and have been feared and dreaded for centuries. In the ancient mid-east, centuries ago, the dreaded disease was leprosy. It was incurable and inoperable and meant a life of loneliness and isolation from all you knew and a slow death. One such sufferer was Naaman. A great Syrian general - the Norman Schwarzkopf - of his day. He was a hero, but he was dying of a disease that left him disfigured, weakened and rejected by his own people. Through an Israeli servant girl, he learned of a prophet in the neighboring land of Israel who might be able to help him. He asked his king to seek help through the official channels from the Israeli King on his behalf. However, help was not to come through official channels, but was offered directly by the prophet Elisha who was aware of the request for aid. Elisha sent an assistant to tell the great general to go and dip himself in the river Jordan 7 times. Naaman flew off the handle angry that he was treated in an off-handed manner. He was indignant and turned to go home, unhealed and bitter and despondent. Do you and I do that at times? Angry at God because He did not respond to our request the way we expected? Naaman was angry. He asked why did the prophet not come out and call upon his God and wave his hand over the affected area and miraculously heal him (2 Kings 5:11-12). He obviously wanted to see a show - like the tv preachers we see who invite the watcher to touch the screen and then just believe and you will receive, as if healing were just a matter of wishing on a Cosmic Santa Claus or those gathered in auditoriums for healing services who run to the stage and when touched by the 'miracle-worker' shouting "Heal" are unexplainably freed the aliment of the moment. That is what Naaman expected. That is what too many people today expect of religion - a show for the sake of a show. Naaman wanted a show, but that is not what he was offered. He was told to go down to the Jordan, dirty, muddy and foreign to him, and dip himself, not once, but seven times and then he would receive his healing. No lights, no cameras, no crowds, no attention, just God offering healing to a dying man. He was confronted, "If asked to do the difficult you would do it, then why would you not do the simple thing asked of you?" For Naaman, it was shameful. He was too embarrassed to go do the simple thing that he was told to do. Isn't the river here in Syria just as good as any old Israeli mud puddle?, he seemed to imply. Why can't I just go down to my own river and dip? Why? Why not believe in the religion I was taught as a child? Too simple. It was very simple. Just lke the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is simple. Easy to believe. God made it that way on purpose. So that "whosoever believes should not perish, but have life eternal" (John 3:16). It is simple and simply effective. For all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:11) Why do I have to believe in Jesus? Why is He better than the tradition I was comfortable with? It was a shameful thing for Naaman to have to go to the foreign river, the foreign land and to make some sort of request of the foreign God. He was a good man, even the Jews thought so (2 Kings 5:1). Just like so many today. They think themselves 'good enough' to appease the gods and think very little of seeking what God might say about their life-style. They do not know the Bible clearly states that, "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" or that we are told clearly, the "wages of sin", what sin will pay, "is death." We have no hope for eternal salvation apart from the provision God has made for us in Jesus Christ. Our problem is not ignorance, or God would have sent a teacher. We do not suffer from lack of guidance, or God could have sent a guru. God knows that our need is forgiveness, so He sent a Savior to die for us and deliver us from the eternal effect of our sin - death and separation from God. Naaman's problem was killing him and he needed a way out. Our problem is sin and it is killing us and will eternally separate us from a holy and righteous God and there is no way out except through Jesus Christ and His blood shed for us; "because without the shedding of blood there is no (forgiveness) of sin" (Hebrews 9:22). Naaman had a problem and he knew what to do about it to fix it. He had a decision to make. He could accept the advice given him and go and obey the word of the prophet and humbly accept the healing that was offered by a foreign God, or he could turn and go home, sick to death, but with his pride in tact. We too have a option. We can accept God's forgiveness and live or turn and go away sick to death, head held high. |
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