Are you wondering who this might be? Well, let’s pretend that this man looks similar to Naaman. Who was Naaman? Naaman was a Syrian army commander.
2 Kings 5:1
Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.
Today, pastor Jim Laffoon shared the story of Naaman with us. It has been a long time since I’ve read 2 Kings, so I thought I’d read over it again and share with you.
Naaman was a war hero and a respected man. Surely he was a prideful man as well. Unfortunately for him, he had leprosy.
2 Kings 5:2-8Now bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”
Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.”
As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!”When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.”
Ok, I know I’m sharing a lot of scripture here, but bear with me — we are getting to the good part!
2 Kings 5:9-12
So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage.
Whew, Naaman was ticked. Here he was, a man who commands respect and he wasn’t even greeted by Elisha! Funny isn’t it? Elisha wasn’t impressed, he just sent a message to the great commander. Ha. You’ve gotta love it.
God often does things in ways that we don’t expect. Sometimes it can really make us angry too. Our pride is hurt, flesh screams out … God’s word still stands and we are left with a choice to make.
Pastor Jim brought up the point that Naaman expected Elisha to do something. Just like many people expect pastors or other anointed leaders to pray over them — wave a hand over them — and suddenly be healed (instead of working through it). I can add my “two cents worth” here! Several years ago I was sooooo full of anger, bitterness, and unforgiveness. I literally had my foundation shaken and I was NOT happy about it. Well, I should say my foundation was removed when I was 18 … from that time on, I rebuilt my foundation on God’s Word. However, when my happy little Christian world was rocked, I realized I still had a LOT of issues that needed healing. Oh how I cried out for God to set me free, heal me, heal my mind, deliver me from every demonic stronghold.
Well, guess what? HE DID, but it took ME running after Him — digging through His Word — humbling myself, again, again, and again; repentance, brokenness, desperate determination. It didn’t happen overnight, but took until I was 41 years old! Can you believe it?!?!?! From 18 until 41. I still have areas that need work (boy, do I!), and I know God will be faithful to bring me, His daughter, through to victory. BUT it didn’t happen the way I expected (or had hoped).
Ok, back to Naaman. He almost missed his blessing because of his pride!
2 Kings 5:13-14
Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.
Wow, look what happened. God doesn’t do things half way. Not only did he restore Naaman’s skin, but He gave him the flesh of a CHILD.
Naaman had to humble himself to go to the Jordan (which he thought wasn’t as grand as the rivers near him) and dip seven times.
Humility is what God requires of us.
Pastor Jim made this statement today that really stayed in my heart, “HUMILITY IS A BITTER MEAL.” Chew on that one a while (pardon the pun). Does it ever feel good to lay down our “rights” when someone has mistreated us?
Remember, God’s answer to your prayers may come through an unlikely source and look different than you expect!
I will leave you with this statement: You always have to go DOWN before you can go up.
God often does things in ways that we don’t expect. Sometimes it can really make us angry too. Our pride is hurt, flesh screams out … God’s word still stands and we are left with a choice to make.”
“HUMILITY IS A BITTER MEAL”
All of the above you shared is to be chewed on and thoroughly digested over and over again.
God bless you for sharing.
I’m really having a hard time with God being in control about one thing in particular (post: Still Struggling to Let it Go). But I just have to keep reminding myself that He is God and I am not.
Which reminds me of a joke:
A middle aged woman has a heart attack and is taken to the hospital. While on the operating table she has a near death experience. During that experience she sees God and ask if this is it. God says no and explains that she has another 30 years to live.
Upon her recovery she decides to just stay in the hospital and have a face lift, liposuction, breast augmentation, tummy tuck, etc. She even has someone come in and change her hair color. She figures since she’s got another 30 years she might as well make the most of it.
She walks out of the hospital after the last operation and is killed by an ambulance speeding up to the hospital. She arrives in front of God and complains: “I thought you said I had another 30 years.
God replies, “I didn’t recognize you.”
Awesome stuff my friend, thanks for sharing.
LOVE that story from the Bible – perfect lesson on humility. There are LOTS of gems in 2 Kings, by the way 🙂
Which reminds me – how’s your chronological Bible reading going? Eeeehhh?
This is SO good, and a great reminder to everyone. So often we manage to convince ourselves that God will act in the very way we think He should, as if we know exactly what He’s thinking. In my experience, that never happens.
And isn’t the Old Testament full of great stories like that one? I think sometimes we sort of pass by those books in favor of Paul and Peter and John. I think we should linger a bit in Kings and Genesis, too.
Preach it, girl! You are so very right. Why is it that our pride is one of the hardest things to let go? This post reminds me of an old praise and worship song we used to sing…
Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord,
Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord.
And He will lift you up, higher and higher
And He will lift you up.
Thanks for a good word!
Thank you for sharing such an insightful post. By the way, I enjoy all the scripture from God’s Holy Word. Sometimes God breaks us in order for us to be put back together without the pride, anger and shame.
God bless you my friend. I am also praying for your parents. Thank you for praying for my mom and for my family too.
Hugs,
Bren
So true…it’s so easy to be prideful when we feel like something is not our fault. But, to be humble and to choose to love is an action we can only do through the Lord.
The Lord is working on that in me!!
Wonderful post Beth! Awesome sermon! Pride has been my downfall many times! Humility and obedience, even if I don’t understand is so important!
That is so true… God doesn’t work in the way we usually expect Him to. Doesn’t that make things even more incredible though? I love it!
I’ve been reading through the old testament and I love a lot of the stories in there that I remember as a child. This story was one of them! Thanks for sharing!
I love that humility quote. Amen to that sister! Thank you for sharing this with us.
Sometimes we expect God to show up in a “big” way. But many times He uses the humble things, the difficult things, and we may miss it as coming from Him if we’re not careful!
Great post my friend! It’s so easy to want things done our way. But God doesn’t work our way. Thank you for the wonderful reminder to be willing to humble ourselves to follow His way!
You are so funny! You joined and have no idea why…hehehe! Love you girl!
What it means is that anytime someone clicks on my blog link from your blog (say they see my button) of if you click on my blog button from your blog….well, then your face/profile will show on the blogfrog thingy.
Try it if you want. Just go on your blog (which you obviously are if you’re reading this) and click on my button. It will take you to my blog. Look on the left sidebar on the blogfrog and you will see your sweet smiling face.
Your face will also appear if someone else goes from your blog to my blog. So if you see yourself on there a couple of times in a row, you will know that others are coming over using your link to my blog.
Hey sweet friend … I tagged ya!
Remember, God’s answer to your prayers may come through an unlikely source and look different than you expect! — most of the times this is how i experience things. but all the time it turned out better than i expected. blessings to you, beth.
It is this actual Bible story that dh was convicted of changing his job to what God really wanted him to do. 😀 Thank you for sharing!