Hi I'mPROPITIOUS Just a few thoughts about today's world versus eternal truths.

2 Kings 5: 1-19 This passage has at least two great truths in it.  We see the servant girl who is a captive yet does not give in to self pity, where we think of no one but ourselves (for the person in self pity has no thought for the plight of others, they are too self centered).

Instead she sees the terrible disease that her master has and is concerned for him.  Instead of being vindictive, she wants to share a way for him to be cleansed.  She knows that God, through His prophet, is great and can do all things, so she tells her mistress.  She probably knows that Naaman would not listen to her, a servant.  God has given her the wisdom to counsel Naaman's wife, who will listen to her.  And so Naaman is given hope.  Even his king is hopeful, perhaps the stories of God's greatness had reached even him.

BUT, God wanted to show, in this instance, that Israel's leaders were not as devout believers as the meekest of Israel (the servant girl).  So the king of Aram sent the letter to the king of Israel.  Perhaps feeling that as the Monarch of Israel he could bring pressure on Elisha to heal Naaman (Elisha might not want to help one he thought of as an enemy).  But the king of Israel did not even think of Elisha.  He was sure this was a way to resume war against Israel.  He did not have the faith in God that the servant Girl did.  He did not follow God's will for his life as well as she did.  He had all the perks of life.  He was even the king of Israel and could ask for almost anything and have it.  But he did not remember who the giver of everything, the Creator, was, to thank Him for his fortune and to share his knowledge of the Creator, as did the servant girl.

So it was left to the prophet of God, Elisha, to let the king know that God had a plan.  And so he sent Naaman to Elisha.  Again, God had a plan.  What Elisha told Naaman to do was so simple, so stupid in the eyes of the world, that, in his wisdom (the world's) he rejected it outright.  In the same way many, when confronted with the Gospel of Christ and the plan of salvation, reject it because of the simplicity, the 'stupidity' of praying to someone and asking forgiveness and accepting a gift.  It's too easy.  This is why many cults have rigid, ritualistic things that MUST be done to be saved.  The Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormans come to mind.  In the reasoning of the world, this must be the way to salvation, we must have to earn it, or it is not fair.  If I work harder at being good, then I should go, but the person who is BAD (in their eyes) should not be given salvation with no sacrifice on their part.  They refuse to believe John 3:16.  They cannot fathom God's love, so they reject it.

Luckily, another servant of Naaman (who again showed that the great may be great but not necessarily wise) argued Naaman into doing what Elisha had told him must be done.  And in his obedience he found healing.  Again, this is a lesson for us.  In obedience to God we will find healing.  It may seem trivial to us to forget to pray or thank God or to read His word.  But when we do forget, our wounds reopen.  And each sin in our lives is a wound of the devil.  And the more we forget God, the more we bleed (sin) and the weaker we become.  Until we call upon Him and do those  things that keep us close to Him we cannot be healed.  Naaman immediately realized that God was the one true god.  At first he tried to pay for his healing.  Maybe out of gratitude, but perhaps also because he had re-examined his life in the light of the truth of God and found there were things in his life that would be objectionable to God.  He hoped he could buy God's forgiveness for what he could not (or would not) change.  But Elisha showed him that God was not for sale.  He would not accept the gifts.  And so Naaman was forced to ask God for forgiveness.  And God forgave him of future sins!  Yet  Naaman made sure that Elisha (and God) knew that his heart was with God, even when he was forced, as a servant of the King of Aram, to frequent the house of worship of a false god. This is a small change