Naaman
One of the mornings this week, I woke up with the word "Naaman" ringing through my head.
'Hmm, sounds like an Old Testament person in the Bible... almost like Haman...'
I was curious to see who this "Naaman" was and almost mistaken him for "Haman," the evil king.
As I received my search results at biblegateway.com, I read the passages in 2 Kings 5 and Luke 4:27 and was quite challenged by the characters of my readings. Each one so powerfully used as a lesson from the word:
Young captive Israelite girl - servant to Naaman's wife, compassionate and brave to tell her master about Elisha the prophet and the way to be healed by God
Naaman - Powerful, famous Syrian hero, commander of the King's army, & even in great pride and no relationship to God, humbles himself to seek truth and healing. He is rewarded by his faith & He is genuinely thankful, praising God
Naaman's servants - giving wise counsel even in the midst of a heated situation, speaking truth from relationship/love
Elisha - Man of God, prophet, not swayed by men's rank/authority or prone to favoritism/familiar but only familiar with God's authority and obedience to Him alone. Knowing even when to refuse gifts for God's glory.
Gehazi - Elisha's servant, too familiar with the company that he keeps, taking matters into his own hands, using his own judgement to override what is "right" and depending on his master's favor with God to cover his misjudgements and greed.
God - God truly cares about the heart of obedience, not whose company you keep. Relationship with God is directly responsible to your own, not leaning on other's faith to "get you by." Even though Naaman threw a fit of pride and indignation, God rewarded Naaman's willingness to humble himself even though he was a foreigner and did not "know" God.
God punished Gahazi who presumed authority greater than he had even though he was either an Israelite or knew enough about the God of Israel, always surrounded by God's presence by being close to Elisha and God's word (Israel's culture), but neither was humble before God nor seeking Him in his heart.
Jesus quotes Naaman's healing in the same context, that those God sent Elijah to heal were not any of the many in Israel that were under the same misfortune, but to a widow in Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian, both in whom were willing to humble themselves and obey under God's authority.
*
So much to glean from these passages, I feel like this is an overwhelming treasury right here.
'Hmm, sounds like an Old Testament person in the Bible... almost like Haman...'
I was curious to see who this "Naaman" was and almost mistaken him for "Haman," the evil king.
As I received my search results at biblegateway.com, I read the passages in 2 Kings 5 and Luke 4:27 and was quite challenged by the characters of my readings. Each one so powerfully used as a lesson from the word:
Young captive Israelite girl - servant to Naaman's wife, compassionate and brave to tell her master about Elisha the prophet and the way to be healed by God
Naaman - Powerful, famous Syrian hero, commander of the King's army, & even in great pride and no relationship to God, humbles himself to seek truth and healing. He is rewarded by his faith & He is genuinely thankful, praising God
Naaman's servants - giving wise counsel even in the midst of a heated situation, speaking truth from relationship/love
Elisha - Man of God, prophet, not swayed by men's rank/authority or prone to favoritism/familiar but only familiar with God's authority and obedience to Him alone. Knowing even when to refuse gifts for God's glory.
Gehazi - Elisha's servant, too familiar with the company that he keeps, taking matters into his own hands, using his own judgement to override what is "right" and depending on his master's favor with God to cover his misjudgements and greed.
God - God truly cares about the heart of obedience, not whose company you keep. Relationship with God is directly responsible to your own, not leaning on other's faith to "get you by." Even though Naaman threw a fit of pride and indignation, God rewarded Naaman's willingness to humble himself even though he was a foreigner and did not "know" God.
God punished Gahazi who presumed authority greater than he had even though he was either an Israelite or knew enough about the God of Israel, always surrounded by God's presence by being close to Elisha and God's word (Israel's culture), but neither was humble before God nor seeking Him in his heart.
Jesus quotes Naaman's healing in the same context, that those God sent Elijah to heal were not any of the many in Israel that were under the same misfortune, but to a widow in Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian, both in whom were willing to humble themselves and obey under God's authority.
*
So much to glean from these passages, I feel like this is an overwhelming treasury right here.
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