Hello everyone. 🙂
I want to first say “Happy Father’s Day” to all of the fathers and father figures. You have an important calling in our world, and I want to thank all of the fathers and father figures who are seeking to honor and fulfil this calling.
I also want to express the admiration and love that I have for my father who has been such a blessing to me throughout my life.
Today, I am going over lessons we can learn from the story of Naaman followed by some insights that can be gained from this story. This story is found in 2 Kings 5.
Naaman was the “captain of the host of the king of Syria.” 2 Kings 5:1 (KJV) He was a skilled warrior. We all know that illness visits people from all walks of life. Naaman was afflicted with the disease of leprosy.
Naaman’s wife had a young Israelite maid. This “little maid,” as the Bible calls her (2 Kings 5:2 KJV) had a suggestion which she shared with her mistress:
“And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.” (2 Kings 5:3)
The little maid’s words made it to the king of Syria, who subsequently prepared a letter for the king of Israel.
“And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment.” 2 Kings 5:5 (KJV)
However, when the king of Israel received the king of Syria’s letter, he had the following reaction:
“And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me.” 2 Kings 5:7 (KJV)
It was then that Elisha the prophet stepped in, after hearing about this occurrence. He sent the following message to the king of Israel:
“…Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 2 Kings 5:8 (KJV)
The rest of what I will be sharing in this blogpost can be found in 2 Kings 5:9-14. We will continue on with the rest of the story in our next blogpost.
Elisha’s request of Naaman was an unusual one.
“And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.” 2 Kings 5:10 (KJV)
Naaman was offended. His pride was injured as he thought about how Elisha had not come and met him in person, put his hand over the leprous area on his (Naaman’s) body and called on God to heal him. Furthermore, why was Elisha telling him to wash in the Jordan river when there were other, more preferable options for him?
Naaman didn’t want to wash in the Jordan seven times. ” …He turned and went away in a rage.” 2 Kings 5:12 (KJV)
Thankfully, Naaman’s servants stepped in at this time to reason with their superior.
“And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?” 2 Kings 5:13 (KJV)
After hearing this, Naaman humbled himself and complied with the prophet Elisha’s request. The result? Naaman was healed of his leprosy.
I’d like for us to look at the spiritual insights that we can gain from this story.
a) Powerful people are not capable of solving every problem that exists. Neither the king of Syria nor the king of Israel were able to cure Naaman of his leprosy.
b) We need to humble ourselves in order to be healed by God. Had Naaman not humbled himself, accepted that the prophet of God was not going to perform a face to face miracle for him by the power of God, and refused to dip seven times in the Jordan River, he would not have received healing from his leprosy.
c) God is particular. God asked Naaman to dip in a specific river, the Jordan river, seven times: not one time, not five times, and not six times, but seven times.
I see an interesting correlation here that I’d like to end with.
God spent six days creating the world. On the seventh-day, He rested. Not only did He rest on that day, but He blessed and sanctified it. (Genesis 2:3)
In Exodus 20:8-11, God commands us to work six days and to rest on the seventh day. Again, He states that in six days He created the world and that He rested on the seventh day and blessed and hallowed (another word for “sanctified”) it.
God clarified in Exodus 31:13 and Ezekiel 20:12 that when His people keep His sabbaths, we are acknowledging that He sanctifies us.
When Jesus came to earth, He made it clear that He had not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17).
If you go to the first chapter of Revelation 1:1, you will see that Jesus Himself is the one who inspired this book.
If you go to Revelation 14: 7, you see language shared that matches the language in Exodus 20:11.
Going back to the story of Naaman, although there isn’t a perfect correlation here, there is an interesting insight to be observed. It was on or after the seventh dip in the water, that Naaman’s work of healing was completed and he was finally cleansed and able to rest from the burden of his leprosy.
It was on the seventh-day of the week that God rested from His work and set this same day aside as a holy day. He says that when His people honor this day, we are acknowledging that He is the one who sanctifies us. In Isaiah 52:11, and 2 Corinthians 6:16-18, we see that God wants people who demonstrate His holiness (sanctified people) to be a clean people.
Naaman became clean when He honored God’s commands. The water itself had no healing power, and Naaman’s action of dipping in it had no healing power either, but exercising faith in God connected Naaman to Him, and God has all healing power.
I want to be cleansed from the leprosy of sin, and I hope that all of my readers do as well. Should we not then also obey God’s command to us and keep His Sabbath along with all of His other commandments? Our obedience to God’s commandments is not healing power and it earns us nothing, but God has all healing power, and when we exercise faith in Him, He draws close to us and showers over us the blessings and healing that He longs to give us. When we demonstrate that we trust Him by our willingness to do what He knows is best for us, He has our consent and cooperation, and there is no limit to what He can do in our hearts.
Courage to all.
Learn and Grow 4ever 