The last couple of weeks we have taken a look at power. We have seen how man often seems to crave power more than anything else. We have seen how the Gospels show us the true power, the power of God as revealed through His Son, Jesus Christ.
This morning we are going to take a closer look at God’s power available to us through His Word, if we are willing to listen, trust and obey. We are going to explore this teaching as revealed to us through an Old Testament story. It is the story of a powerful, wealthy general named Naaman.
Naaman’s story is indeed an interesting and curious one. I mean, here is a man who is the commanding general of a powerful army. He is a man who is very comfortable in the presence of kings. But here also is a man who suffers from an incurable skin disease. The disease is called “leprosy” in the text, but this term refers to a wide variety of skin diseases during that time period. It is most probable that Naaman, who for sure had access to the king’s best physicians, had sought out all of the medical treatments available to him at the time, to no avail. His disease raged on. Naaman’s medical options exhausted, he had probably resigned himself to his suffering.
Enter a very unlikely proposition, forwarded to Naaman by his wife from an equally unlikely source, a slave girl captured when the army of the King of Aram overpowered Israel. The slave girl recalls that a prophet of God living in Samaria, named Elisha, is able to perform miracles. She tells Naaman’s wife, “If your husband will go to the prophet Elisha, he will be healed.” So Naaman goes to the King of Aram, who thought enough of Naaman to give him a letter instructing the King of Israel to cure Naaman of his leprosy.
Here we find a classic example of miscommunication. By the time the information given by the captive Hebrew girl is filtered down through the general’s wife, the general, the King of Aram and the letter he sends to the King of Israel, there is not even a mentioning of the prophet Elisha’s name! When the King of Israel reads the letter, he believes that the King of Aram is setting him up. He thinks that the King of Aram is picking a fight with Israel and that the letter is probably a pretext to an invasion. The King of Israel doesn’t even think to call on Elisha. Instead, he rends his clothes in fear. In this we see the crux of the matter, the point of the story.
We have, so far in the story, met three characters who have tremendous wealth and power. They have the resources and the armies of nations at their beck and call. But even with all of their power and wealth they cannot cure leprosy. They can’t even buy a cure for leprosy. In the face of this horrible disease, the great and powerful Naaman, the King of Aram and the King of Israel are all totally powerless and completely helpless.
But we have also met another person. We have heard the voice of a lowly Israelite slave girl. Was there a more helpless and powerless voice in all their world than a captured Israelite slave girl? Yet her voice is the only one spoken with true understanding. However, by the time her words has traveled through the ranks to the ears of the two most powerful men in the region, those words have been distorted and the men do not understand. They have resorted to writing letters, which is their accustomed way of showing authority. They have resorted to wealth, which is their accustomed way and means of working their will upon others. Instead of seeking out Elisha, the prophet of God who resides in Samaria, Naaman and his king seek out the seat of human power and authority in Israel, the King, who also fails to understand the problem and grasp the solution.
Now in the story, in the midst of their confusion, we hear another voice. The prophet Elisha hears of the situation and Elisha sends a servant to the King of Israel inviting him to send Naaman to him. So Naaman goes, and upon his arrival at Elisha’s house, is not met by Elisha, but rather he is met by one of Elisha’s servants! This servant tells the great Naaman, “Go wash in the Jordan River seven times, and your flesh will be restored and you shall be clean!”
At this, Naaman becomes furious for several reasons. First of all, according to the customs of the time, Elisha should have come out to meet Naaman in person and performed the healing right then and there on the spot. This would serve as an acknowledgement of Naaman’s stature and power.
Secondly, Naaman is from Aram (Syria) and he is not in the least happy to be told to wash in the Jordan River. Why, that was just a muddy stream that didn’t hold a candle to the mighty rivers of Damascus, Abana and Pharpar found in Naaman’s homeland. Naaman was prepared to meet the prophet in person and shower him with gifts. Naaman was prepared to do something extraordinary and hard in order to be healed. But this is an outrage and Naaman goes stomping off in disgust. It is here that we find the true nature of Naaman’s story unfolding. It is here that we find the true nature of our story unfolding. It is here that we discover that we are Naaman.
Far too often, when we are confronted by difficult circumstances in our own lives, we too rely on our own understanding and fall back on patterns of behavior that have served us well in the past, but aren’t working well in the present. We are reluctant to, or flat out refuse to consider other options or seek different approaches.
The acts of Naaman, the King of Aram and the King of Israel are classic examples of the gridlock that can occur when we get trapped in the politics of power. Everyone trying to use their own power and influence to get what they want, while none of them has a clue about where the real answer lies. They can’t see past their own limited understanding about what power is, what power does, and all of them refuse to hear or consider a new idea, a fresh approach.
What Naaman does next is what we all must do. His servants appeal to Naaman to listen to the voice of God given through His prophet Elisha and obey and do what he was told. For Naaman, this would be an act of humbling himself. That is what we too must do. We must humble ourselves and obey what God tells us to do. We may not like it. We may not agree with it. We just may not want to do it. But if we are to see any kind of physical, emotional or spiritual healing, we must do it. We must humble ourselves, trust in and obey God’s word as given to us through Scripture.
Understand this. Humility is not just an act of surrendering power. As a matter of fact, it may not be surrendering power at all. Jesus Christ was the best example of humility that has ever been seen, yet He did not for a moment surrender His power as God the Son. No, humility is an act of trust, an act of hearing and understanding what true power is. Humility is the setting aside of our usual weapons of warfare, our normal use of power and authority, to acknowledge that the truth is that we are needy, and that only God has what we truly need.
God speaks to us in so many ways, yet we refuse to hear as long as we refuse to humble ourselves and remain unteachable. To be unteachable is to be unreachable and untouchable. It is to deny God the opportunity to provide what we need most. What we need most is God. Naaman listens to his servants, goes to the Jordan River and does what God has told him to do through the prophet Elisha. Can you imagine what was going through Naaman’s mind, when after six dips in the muddy Jordan River, he was no better off than he was before going in at all? Do you think he might have been thinking something like, “Man, six dips and nothing has happened. What a waste. What a fool I’ve been to listen to that man Elisha. He doesn’t know what he is talking about. I knew this wouldn’t work. Listen to God! Ha! I’ll be the laughing stock of the whole town. I’ll never live this down with my friends and family.”
Ever feel that way yourself? Ever think that this following Jesus Christ stuff wasn’t working? Ever think you would have more fun, be better off, if you just ignored His teachings? Ever think that it just isn’t worth it to even attempt to live the Christian lifestyle? I’ll bet most, if not all of us, have thought that way at some time or another. Satan wants us to think that way. He will even attempt to make us think that way, and when we let down our guard, Satan is successful. But heed this. Naaman finally obeyed God and he was healed. His skin was restored and he was made clean. But even more important than that, Naaman found something in the waters of the Jordan River that he hadn’t even realized he needed. Naaman found a God who was able and willing to heal him. He found a God who had called him from the country of Aram to the shore of a foreign river to show him that there was indeed a God in Israel. The result was that when Naaman returned to Aram, it was with the testimony that the words of a captured slave girl, the words of healing and hope, the words that there is truly a God who loves us and desires to make us whole, are indeed true.
Our world today is filled with power that has gone astray. Even the Church has been caught up in the chorus of the world’s clamor that trusts in the power and authority of wealth. But the Church should know better. The King of Israel should have known better. The slave girl knew better. Elisha knew better. Naaman learned better. We can learn better.
Naaman dipped seven times. Why seven? Despite what some may say, Scripture says there were seven days (Yom) in Creation, and there are seven days in a week. Each day we should remember that we dwell in a universe created by the Word of God, and the Word of God remains with us in the present, able and willing to help those who live with the knowledge of what true power and authority are, and who it is that has them. They rest only in the One, True, Triune God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. His teachings and His commands are given to us in his Holy Book, the Bible. They are the power to heal and make us whole. They are the power to live now and forever. Read them. Study them. Learn them. Trust in them. Obey them. Amen!