1. Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Syria, was a great
man with his master, and highly respected, because by him the Lord had given victory to
Syria. The man was also a valiant warrior, but he was a leper.
2. Now the Syrians had gone out in bands, and had taken captive a
little girl from the land of Israel; and she waited on Naaman’s wife.
3. And she said to her mistress, "I wish that my master were
with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of leprosy."
4. And Naaman went in and told his master, saying, "Thus and
thus spoke the girl who is from the land of Israel."
5. Then the king of Syria said, "Go now, and I will send a
letter to the king of Israel." And he departed and took with him ten talents of
silver and six thousand shekels of gold and ten changes of clothes.
6. And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying,
"And now as this letter comes to you, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to you,
that you may cure him of his leprosy."
7. And it came about when the king of Israel read the letter, that
he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man is
sending word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? But consider now, and see how he is
seeking a quarrel against me."
8. And it happened when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of
Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent word to the king, saying, "Why have you
torn your clothes? Now let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in
Israel."
9. So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots, and stood at the
doorway of the house of Elisha.
10. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in
the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you and you shall be
clean."
11. But Naaman was furious and went away and said, "Behold, I
thought, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord
his God, and wave his hand over the place, and cure the leper.’
12. "Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better
than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned
and went away in a rage.
13. Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, "My
father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How
much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?"
14. So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan,
according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a
little child, and he was clean.
Feel the shame and the pain. Naaman The Great is a Leper! His shame
is exposed. He was good at so much, yet he had this problem that was destroying his life
and affecting his relationships with others – his wife, his boss, his servants.
See the love. A little girl who might have wished death for her captor, speaks words of
life and expresses hope. A wife shares the story. A king grants a request. Servants and
soldiers faithfully move in the direction of a foreign country because their master is
sick.
See the test of God. Naaman wants to approach God on his own terms, after all isn’t
he Naaman The Great? So the army in all its splendor and might forms in front of a little
hut. The prophet doesn’t even come out, but sends a messenger. How humiliating!
Perhaps you think, "Sure I have a problem with temptation, but it’s not all that
bad. Just give me some advice. Give me a technique that might distract me today from
visiting my favorite web-sites. Then I can say, ‘I tried’. "
Overall how many of us really want to be completely changed? The Naaman in us, upon
hearing the instruction to go dunk in a dirty little river seven times, feels like turning
around. What a waste of time! What would people think if they saw me reading a bible study
on my computer screen? Someone I have never met, tells me to trust God when he
doesn’t even know me. He should at least come out of his hut and show me he
personally cares.
But Naaman is stopped with the point that if it had been a hard request (one that would
feed a soldier’s ego) he would have charged ahead. On the other hand, surrender is
always the hardest act of a soldier. So here you sit with the options of (1) click porn
and (2) cry out to God. It comes down to you and God. The rest of us are on the side-lines
praying you will make the right choices. Only He can make your life clean again and
He’s calling you to take the plunge and give all control of your life to Him.