Thursday, July 10, 2014
Reading for today: 2 Kings 5-8
Naaman is the commander of the of a very powerful army, and is used to being treated with dignity and respect. Only when he is in the presence of someone greater than himself does Naaman tolerate being ordered around. So, when he comes to Elisha's home and doesn't even warrant an audience with the prophet, who casually dismisses him to go and bathe in a local stream....he is understandably upset.
In this case, the servants are wiser than the master. They help Naaman to see that obedience could lead to great reward, and that he loses nothing by doing what the prophet has told him to do. In fact, when it is all over, this great commander comes before Elisha with a very different attitude. Now he is humble and patient. He asks for some dirt upon which he may worship the God of Israel. A few hours ago he didn't want it, or recognize that anything in Israel had value.
I guess the morale of the story is this: obedience to God's instructions brings about God's blessing, and even better than that, it brings about a greater awareness to the existence of God himself. In order to worship we must first obey. And when we obey, worship becomes easy, not forced or fake. Also, our worship takes on many different forms, and God blesses each of them. Naaman isn't interested in staying in Israel and becoming a rabbi....he asks for a small piece of Israel to take with him. He will worship in another place, and perhaps in a different way...but it will be the one and only true God.
Greed makes an appearance in the story...Elisha's servant (who has seen Elisha do great things...he should know better) pursues Naaman and collects part of the gift that Elisha refused. For his trouble, he inherits Naaman's leprosy. Greed is contrary to the life of the Christian. Greed encourages us to trust in ourselves, and not in God. Greed directs our focus internally. Generosity causes us to look outward. As Christians, we should always strive to be generous, and constantly on our guard against greed.
There are many great thoughts and verses in today's reading, but one of my favorites (I have it highlighted in my Bible is 2 Kings 7:9 "What we are doing is not right, this is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves"
What a great story! Praise God for his unlimited creativity and ability in answering our prayers and meeting our needs!
PR
Pastor Kathy adds:
Today we also learn how God fights for us even if we can’t always see Him. (Chapter 6) Elisha’s servant was afraid of the army sent to capture Elisha, yet the prophet knew that there were celestial beings standing guard over them. I think it is important for us to learn to live our lives with eyes of faith that will reveal what God is doing in our lives. When we are facing trials and struggles that seem insurmountable, we just need to remember that God is at work in our lives and there are spiritual forces from the heavenly realms surrounding us, protecting us, helping us to get through.
PK
Much like Naaman I think that we sometimes, maybe even more often than not, will approach God with the same attitude as he approached Elisha with. Maybe we hear a testimony of something miraculous that God has done in someone Else's life, or just get that miracle mindset from reading accounts in the Bible; but when God doesn't react the way we would expect Him to we get upset. Whether that means getting mad at God, getting depressed, losing faith, down on ourselves for lack of faith, thinking God is mad at us.. we come to God with expectations of something miraculous and we're let down because He chooses not to respond how we think He would.
ReplyDeleteInstead we're given a simple command, "follow Me". Instead we're still left to go through the same old daily routines, dealing with the same old problems. There's nothing leading us to do anything significant, no miraculous change in anything; just that simple command to follow Him. Obedience in the simple things I think is what pleases God more than anything. It's much easier to obey when you have a great task set out in plain daylight right in front of you. It's easy to praise God when something miraculous has just happened in your life. But that step by step, not knowing what the future holds, not seeing a purpose for what you're going through, daily walk seems to be the test of our true relationship with Jesus.
God knows what is best for us, and He knows what we can handle. He tells us we should wash in the Jordan, we say there are several rivers much better than that; yet He still knows best. Question is how much do we trust Him? Are we willing to walk through the every day drudgery, remain obedient in all the small things, and still keep an attitude of praise and reverence toward Him? Are we willing to take Him for His word that all things will work together for the good of us who love Him, and are called according to His purpose.. namely, to follow Him? If so, I think we will be quite amazed when we look back and see the great works He has done in us (or even in others through us) in the times we had no idea that He was even working.