Bible Reading: 2 Kings 5:1-14
A. CREDENTIALS OF NAAMAN:
1. Commander of the army of the King of Aram;
2. A great man in the sight of his master;
3. Valiant soldier;
4. Highly regarded in view of his war victories.
B. CHARACTER OF NAAMAN:
1. A man of pride - Naaman was a man with power and authority over a strong army. He commanded thousands and was a capable leader. He enjoyed high standing among people and was regarded as a man of high position.
This resulted in him having an inflated view of himself when he came before God and the man of God. As he came to Elisha's house, he brought with him his horses and chariots to show that he was a man of great power and authority.
But God doesn't need our credentials, qualifications when He wants to do His work in us. All God wants is our heart to seek Him. Naaman had the heart to seek God's healing and restoration, but he did it his way by bringing with him what he had.
2. A man of arrogance - Naaman said, "... I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy."(v. 11)
Naaman expected Elisha to come out of his house and greet him, and he expected Elisha to preform the miracle there and then, the way he expected.
Naaman came to seek God's healing, but he came with his preconceived ideas and methods how God was supposed to heal him.
God is a God of all wisdom and He is sovereign. He is a wonder-working God who is not confined by human ways and methods. His ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8). It will be foolish of us to think God only has one or a few ways of working His miracles.
Hence, we must be ready to put off all preconceived ideas of God and be open to any thing He wants to command us to do. And as we lay our requests humbly before the All-wise and Sovereign God each time, we should not tell him how He should work.
3. A man of impulse - "Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed? So he turned and went off in a rage."(v.12)
Apparently, Naaman was not prepared to listen and do what Elisha told him. Naaman could not understand why it must be River Jordan and not any other rivers that he was geographically near to. Going the extra mile and having to dip himself into the River Jordan seven times must have been a real humbling experience for a man of such high standing. Finally, unable to comprehend God's ways, he stormed off in a rage.
Don't we behave like Naaman at times? We are unable to understand certain instructions given to us by God's servant, and in a moment of impulse and anger, we storm out and leave the ministry or church?
C. COMPLIANCE OF NAAMAN:
Naaman experienced complete restoration only after he did exactly what the man of God told him to do:
1. dip himself,
2. in the Jordan River,
3. seven times.
Most people are willing to seek and listen to advice but not many actually adopt the advice and do something to change. Do we hear and hear, week after week through the same sermons about what can change our lives for the better in Christ, but never really following it with a heart of obedience? This is probably the main reason why many Christians have been unable to experience God's complete promise(s), personal growth and restoration.
Secondly, Naaman's servants played a very important role in encouraging his obedience to the man of God. Are we also encouraging our fellow brothers and sisters to obey God's servants even when the instructions seem ridiculous and difficult? Or do we flow along with the crowd and agree with their short-sightedness. We must be careful how we encourage one another in the Lord. Our encouragements must bring someone into obedience to the Lord in order for it to be pleasing. Otherwise, the Bible warns that we are like tying stones around the fellow brethren's neck and causing him to drown in the water to die in peril.
D. COMPLETENESS OF NAAMAN
"...Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel..."(v.15b)
Finally, as we read the story of Naaman... one might unintentionally pass judgement on Naaman - that he does not deserve God's complete healing in view of his arrogance and pride - but you know, this is Grace. This is God.
Grace is unmerited favour. It is receiving God's eternal goodness we don't deserve and we did nothing to earn it.
God gave Naaman more than physical healing. He also healed Naaman of his pride and arrogance to recognise his own spiritual need - the need to know the True God. When God gives, his gift of healing makes us whole and complete, to see our own lack and to discover His love. He gives us more than what we actually deserve.
Today, we receive God's Gift of Eternal Salvation purely by Grace. We have fallen short of His glory and our righteous acts are like filthy rags. No amount of our good works, credentials, qualifications can make us look any good to deserve heaven. It is solely by God's loving grace, He sent Jesus Christ to pay with His one and only life, for our eternal salvation, to redeem us once and for all, so that ultimately, God may once again dwell among us.
When we realize how much God has done for us while we were still undeserving sinners, do we have any right to pass judgement on Naaman, or any person (for that matter) for who they are or how they are behaving? Does their arrogance towards God now become an excuse for us not to share Christ's love and grace to them?
"What does God require of us?
To act justly, show mercy and walk humbly before our God."
(Micah 3:8)
