Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Kings 5-7.

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There are two points I want to take from the account of Naaman being healed of leprosy.  First, Naaman was angry when Elisha set him the task of washing himself in the Jordan seven times.  He expected Elisha to appear before him and wave his hand over him to cure him of his leprosy.  Further, he was upset that Elisha sent him to the Jordan, rather than to one of the rivers of Damascus.  Naaman took the command to wash in the Jordan as a slight against Damascus and the land ruled over by its king.  Naaman felt disrespected by the fact that Elisha did not appear before him to tell him how to be healed, and he did not understand why God would give him the task he had been given.  This combination made him angry.  However, once he humbled himself and did as God directed, he was healed.  In the same way, we should humble ourselves and do as God directs us, even when the task He assigns us seems beneath us.

Second, once Naaman made his commitment to God, he realized that his position would require him to be present during the king of Damascus’ worship of gods other than God.  He begged God to forgive him in advance for the fact that he would have to offer respect to the god of Damascus despite no longer believing that there was any god but the God of Israel.  The king of Syria had authority over Naaman, so Naaman had to give the appearance of respecting the god whom the king served despite having no such respect.  The lesson here is a tricky one.  As I understand it, this lesson tells us that we do not have to proclaim our faith loudly in our workplace if doing so might cost us our job or our freedom.  Naaman did not request forgiveness for taking part in worship of this pagan god.  He merely requested that God forgive him for accompanying his boss and putting on the appearance of respect to this false god.

Finally, I want to touch on the siege of Samaria, in particular its ending.  We learn a lesson from the captain of the king of Israel.  He questioned God’s ability to do as Elisha foretold.  As a result, he saw that God was able to do as He had said through His prophet, but did not get any of the benefit of that work by God.  I almost wrote “It is a grave sin to question the ability of God to do as He promised.”  I realized that was not what I believe.  Questioning God is not the problem.  The captain in this story said that God could not do it.  Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 3 that God is able to far more than at that we ask or think, not just more, but far more.  In the context of that passage Paul tells us that God’s love for us surpasses what we are able to know.  The captain could not imagine that what Elisha predicted could happen, therefore he was convinced that God could not do it.  Let us not make the mistake of thinking that just because we cannot see how something could happen that God is unable to make it come to pass.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.