I’ve been looking at the story of Naaman this week in the Book of 2 Kings. It’s funny how when God is talking to me about something, that everything I read points to that 😊
What’s interesting about this story is Naaman wasn’t serving God. He had heard about the prophet Elisha from his wife’s Israelite maid. He was the commander of the army of Syria but he was also a leper. He asked the king for permission to go to meet Elisha and be healed. The king agreed and sent a letter to the king of Israel. The king of Israel got into a bit of a panic, read between the lines and came up with a whole story that wasn’t there because he tore his clothes! He thought war would break out if Naaman wasn’t healed.
Now, when Elisha heard this he said something really interesting:
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 CH 5:8
Other translations say ‘a true prophet’. Nevertheless, doesn’t this sound a bit arrogant to you? I don’t know why it stuck out to me on reading this time but it did. Elisha was so sure of his connection with God that he had no doubt at all that what he said would happen.
Naaman didn’t know Elisha or God. He wasn’t sure at all. In fact, when Elisha sent his servant out to give Naaman the instruction to dip in the river Jordan seven times, he was mad:
But Naaman was wroth, 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 strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.
2 KINGS CH.5:11
This made me laugh 😊 Naaman was expecting a show! He wanted Elisha to come out, wave his hands about while calling on God and then bam! Leprosy gone.
‘What do you mean I have to go and wash in some river that’s not as clean as the ones where I live?’
It was too easy.
Do you reject that it’s God speaking when you’re prompted to do something because it’s too easy? Do you make a cup of tea for yourself and ignore others in the room? Do you refuse to call a friend who you’ve not heard from in a while because you always call them? Do you not interrupt your teenager whilst she’s reading because you think she won’t want to talk? I’ve done all of these things and felt convicted. BUT – when I did make the tea, it was gratefully received and opened up space for communication that hadn’t happened in a while. When I made the call, that friend was going through a tough time and needed to talk. And when I interrupted my teenager’s reading, she welcomed the chat and it strengthened our bond.
Sometimes the easy thing will lead someone to say ‘Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel’ (2 Kings 5:15). Elisha said Naaman would know there was a prophet in Israel but, even more than that, he knew God.
Let this be your encouragement today to do the easy thing and see how God draws others to Him through it.
Love and blessings
Ana x
Steadfast Love 