Wednesday: The Healing of Naaman
Read 2 Kings 5:11-14. What does this account teach us about Naaman and some of the lessons he had to learn? What can we take from this for ourselves as well?
Had the prophet Elisha personally met his prominent guest Naaman and employed exorcising gestures accompanied by magic formulas and other rituals so common in pagan religions, Naaman might not have hesitated. But two aspects of his reception insulted him. Not only did the prophet not personally come out of his house to meet Naaman, but he also directed him to the Jordan River as the place to get his leprosy cured.
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From the viewpoint of protocol, Naaman was right. Elisha should have left his house to greet him. And the rivers in Damascus were undoubtedly better, since their water was clearer than the muddy Jordan’s. However, through Elisha, God directed Naaman to the Jordan, a river in Israel. The entire cure process was designed to demonstrate, first, that there was a prophet of the true God in Israel and, second, that God rewarded believing compliance.
Naaman’s retinue convinced him to submit to his new, divine commander
and at least give it a try. Their argument, that if the suggested cure had been complicated he would have endured it, persuaded him. It must have been hard for Naaman to swallow his pride at having to listen to a slave girl, a foreign prophet who showed him little deference, and, finally, to his own servants. He was, though, desperate for healing.
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
(2 Kings 5:14 NIV).
The initial requirements for Naaman’s healing were belief and compliance. As soon as he conquered his pride and complied with God’s expressed will by bathing seven times in the muddy Jordan, he was cured.
Read Romans 6:4-11. How does the story of Naaman reflect some of the principles taught in these verses? In what ways have you experienced the reality of a new life
in Christ?
(24)
What an interesting story recorded for our admonishing in this last day,For Naaman to be healed he had to be purified of pride,and his help came from a very unsual person,that should also indicate that the working of God are beyond what our thoughts can yake us,it doesnt matter how big our problem is so longa as we trust in Gods lead and believe in him,we will surely be healed
It must be the same for our life~belief and compliance.
It must be so in our lives, belief and compliance with what GOD says for us to be and do. HIS will is the focal point in the daily life. Even today.
The Great Physician did not add insult to illness in His simple instruction to Naaman through the prophet in Israel (2 Kings 5:8-10). The Lord is often, if not always communicating something to mankind in what He does and reveals.
One lesson here is that God frequently works through simple means. Too often it is the case that praise is directed to the creature for some supposed great work, and too often men and women credit themselves for good works because they brought something others could not or did not.
In any undertaking when there is little need for specialized skills, astute intellect, abundance of wealth or other human prowess it is more likely all glory will rightly go to Creator for His works.
God also teaches by the instruction to Naaman that He communicates in simple terms. Jesus demonstrated this in relating to both the common people and the elevated class. Hardly any could complain that Christ was complex in His message.
The scriptures of God are simple enough to be understood by the average person. And many with little formal education have drawn from the Bible wisdom which escapes lettered folk.
Although some things may require a little more earnest study God’s message to the human race is not complex. If at any time it becomes complicated step back and talk to the Lord about what you might be missing; for the path of deception is routed through complicated doctrine and confused teaching (1 Timothy 4:1, 2).
Do not be anxious to apply obscure interpretations and formulate intricate theories which are difficult to explain. Focus more on the plain statements and the straight testimony of scripture, taking the Bible as it reads. Give God the praise when you understand something a little better.
Faith,trust n obedience are they key to our illing diseases. The Lord is our hope n savior to our problems n we should alwayz think of him as our Only Helper!
Pride can be such a powerful thing in our lives that can keep us from a complete surrender to Christ. I pray that the Holy Spirit will work in each of our hearts showing us what we need to do to be one with Christ.
If we abet sin and allow it to continue its dominance, we shall be cut off from the divine inheritance. Submission is key to conquering the dominant self-exaltation, annihilate pride and comply to divine principles. Naaman was healed when he chose to listen to his lowly servants who urged him to do what the prophet had commanded.
Pride led Lucifer to rebel against God. Pride could have deprived Naaman from getting healed from leprosy.
How wonderful is our God who does His things in a very simple way Leprosy being treated by simply water, Saul\'s eye re-opened by just a spit of saliva, Goliath killed by just a sling shot, Gedion winning a war with only Three hundred soldiers, Abraham winning war against kings. Our God does wonders by simply simple means assume all this were to be put into monetary value very few would have aforded but God doesn\'t look at social prosperity but He only wants the humble, meak and down to earth people. in our day to day life we only need to follow what He commands and we shall get to the right dirrection and live according to His will.
Read 2 Kings 5:11-14. What does this account teach us about Naaman and some of the lessons he had to learn? What can we take from this for ourselves as well?
Humility is the first thing that comes to mind here. His status, power, affiliations could not heal his malady, but a dirty river could. Naaman had to come down from his horse (literally and figuratively) and follow directions in order to be healed. Today as Seventh-Day Adventists we have an awesome message, we attend church on the Sabbath day, and I sure hope that we are not arrogant in our belief that ‘we have the truth’ and there is nothing more that we should be doing. There are 10 commandments, not just the 4th one. I ask my Savior to help me remember that keeping the commandments (all of them) will help me show my love for Him (John 14:15).
We learned previously from the book of proverbs that we are fast to identify your friend or someone else as having pride or is a fool but never identify yourself, that one time or currently you have the same features. On the same note, the lesson said that we are already sinful fallen beings, what are we proud of? In a light note, my brother/sister identify yourself of any instance you have shown such characteristics or we fall always having pride. Unless we rely on Christ alone, pray more to Him, we can't be like Naaman or Christ Himself who was lowly and meek. All we need is to identify and accept we ourselves as fallen and stretch forth to the hand of the Omnipotence and learn from Him the character. Matt 11:29.
When God says Go just GO. Do not try to make sense of it Just GO. Our small minds cannot fully comprehend GOD at all.
I often equate Mary's command to the servants at the wedding with Nike's hook phrase re 'do it'. I think of Abraham also on this very matter. My mind is comforted in blind obedience to GOD especially because of TWO beliefs: Him knowing the future - my future, coupled with His having my best interest dear to His heart...as demonstrated by the Father of the prodigal son, and also His willingness to leave the 99 for anyone of us...
Many are suffering unnecessarily due to unbelief and unwillingness to comply.
This lesson to me is one of baptism and being born again (Romans 6:1-11). Commander Naaman had everything but was as good as dead. By the grace of God the "Unexpected Missionary" preached the word and the Holy Spirit took over and led Naaman to repentance and baptism. Prophet Elisha knew his role as a vessel for the message to get through. Glory be To God!
Healing was only a step away- "Believing and complying". The river of Jordan was not manifested with healing powers as was the brazen snake the wilderness. All that was expected was faith and not theoretical faith but faith with actions.
The account of Naaman's healing summarizes what ails ALL humans and outlines our path back to health. That account is the Gospel depicted in the life one typical human.
We are a smart and accomplished specie, because we were made so by our Creator (Gen 1: 26-27 compared to 2 King 5:1) but we became unhealthy, sick. We ALL became unhealthy in our thinking (Gen 3: 6; Isaiah 55: 8-9). Naaman wasn't just physically sick, he was, like ALL of us, sick in his thinking (2 King 5: 11-12) accomplished as he was. His leprosy, typifies our Adamic nature to oppose (even defy!) our Creator's thoughts (Rom 5: 12). No human since Adam (except Christ), regardless of how manifestly brilliant or conversely defective, has escaped the "sin/death" brought on humanity. Like his fore-parents, the patriarch Abraham, twice (Gen 12: 11-13; Gen 20: 11-12) nearly brings disaster into the lives of those he lived amongst (2 King 5: 1.."leprosy" is contagious!) because his thinking, driven by fear, caused him to act on a lie. Interestingly, so did his son of promise Isaac (Gen 26: 6-7). Most well-mannered, law-abiding, church-attending, educated, nurturing-parents, etc. can't understand what it is about us that the Creator finds offensive (John 8: 33; Mt 9: 2-4). Scripture, however, portrays an unflattering image of our specie (Gen 8:21; Ps 58: 3; Isaiah 1: 6; Jer 9: 14; Isaiah 53: 6). Naaman's thoughts (2 King 5: 11-12), like Adam/Eve's, Abraham's and Isaac's before him, almost robbed him of the healing he traveled so far to receive. He almost becomes a victim of his own thinking (Ps 7: 14-16). That just about summarizes human history...our thinking torpedoes our spiritual relation with our Creator (Gen 6: 5-6; Ex 32: 7-10), our health via our diet, our personal and national relationships, personal and national finances etc. Some, unlike Naaman, go so far as to disregard the gracious counsel of caring individuals around them (Judges 14: 2-3) in full-blown self-deception. God's counsel is that we separate ourselves from what ails us (Isaiah 55: 7; Col 1: 21) by hearing (Rom 10: 17) the Creator's diagnosis and submitting, by faith, to His prescription for effective healing (Lk 4: 18; Heb 10: 10, 16-17).