Naaman Part 2

Naaman Part 2

Submit

2 Kings 5:7-14

Story 1

Story of when I didn’t listen and things went bad

Scripture

Last week we looked at Naaman and how he was a general in Aram who had kidnapped a little girl to be his servant's wife. That girl laid down her pride, forgave him, and told him about how he could be healed if he went to God's prophet.

So Naaman gathered wealth—over 2 million dollars—and went to the king of Israel. He headed straight to the King and the palace, because that's where the important people live, right? That's where the people who matter are!

Well let's read and see what happens when he visited the king.

2 Kings 5:7 [CSB]

When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and asked, “Am I God, killing and giving life that this man expects me to cure a man of his skin disease? Think it over and you will see that he is only picking a fight with me.”

Application 1

The king of Israel was scared! That's why he tore his robes. It was a sign of mourning and would mean that everyone in the country would mourn with him!

The guys who had been raiding his country and taking his people back to be slaves now came with tons of money and a letter asking him to HEAL THIS MAN'S SKIN DISEASE!

Yeah, he was not thinking they had his best interests in mind. Like he said, he thought the kingdom of Aram was going to blame him for NOT healing Naaman, and then launch a full-scale invasion! Or perhaps he was thinking that he may be killed right then and there if he didn’t do what Naaman wanted.

2 King 5:8-9 [CSB]

When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel tore his clothes, he sent a message to the king, “Why have you torn your clothes? Have him come to me, and he will know there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s house.

The king had a very small faith. He could only see the threat of the King of Aram in his mind. He had no faith that God could deliver them from their enemies, let alone heal a man of his skin disease.

Elisha's response showed just how confident he was that God was going to be able to do a mighty work and prove that He was with His prophet.

Elisha was the right-hand man to Elijah, the prophet who wandered the countryside and killed prophets of Baal and called down fire from heaven onto the offering at Mt Carmel. Elisha was his understudy. Elijah had been taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire, and Elisha received all the power God had given to Elijah.

But Elisha was a different kind of prophet. He was more of the quiet type who had a house where he lived and served from.

Here's something that's funny though. Naaman went to the palace, right? He went to the place where he thought important things happened and important people lived. The thing is, a lot of the time, God doesn't act like we think He ought. And maybe even the king didn't want the prophet living in the palace. Maybe he wanted things of God to be far away from him.

So, this mighty general, along with all of his horses and chariots, just knocked on the door of the humble little house of Elisha.

Imagine if our Pastor showed up to your house and asked for a favor. You'd answer the door and do what he asked, right? Probably so! Imagine if it was a Senator, a Governor, or even the President! You'd be jumping up to help.

Elisha took a different approach.

2 Kings 5:10 [CSB]

Then Elisha sent him a messenger, who said, “Go wash seven times in the Jordan and your flesh will be restored and you will be clean.”

Can you imagine how Naaman felt? He'd traveled all this way and was just getting to see the messenger! I'd be ticked! Or at least disappointed! Naaman was pretty much the same. He had traveled a long way with a ton of money expecting something great! He said as much.

2 Kings 5:11-12 [CSB]

11 But Naaman got angry and left, saying, “I was telling myself: He will surely come out, stand and call on the name of Yahweh his God, and will wave his hand over the spot and cure the skin disease. 12 Aren’t Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and left in a rage.

Ok, some quick backstory here. The Jordan River is located in Israel. Jesus was baptized in it. John the Baptist baptized lots of people in it. The only problem was that the Jordan River was not clean.

Kind of gross, right?

Abana and Pharpar are two rivers in Damascus, close to where Naaman was from. And they were MUCH cleaner places to wash. Plus, Naaman was probably feeling some national pride.

Naaman said he expected him to come out, at least wave his hand over the spot, and heal him in person. Does this story remind you of one in the New Testament?

This reminds me of the faith of the Centurion. It's in Matthew 5:8-13, but I'll summarize.

Jesus walked into a city, and a centurion, or Roman soldier, approached him and said “I'm not worthy for you to come to my house. But I understand authority. I tell people to do things and they do it. Just say the word and my servant who is sick with a fever will be healed.”

Jesus was amazed at the guy's faith and healed his servant from far away.

God is everywhere and in control of everything! I find a lot of comfort in that. And He often will act in ways that don't make sense to us. We expect someone to have an active part in the healing of someone. Like, be there. But with God, He can do anything to anyone from anywhere!

Let's get back to the story.

Elisha's servant told Naaman to go wash in the Jordan and Naaman threw a fit and left. As he left, though, his servants approach him.

2 King 5:13 [CSB]

But his servants approached and said to him, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more should you do it when he tells you, ‘Wash and be clean’?”

So, the servants of the great general let him walk away angry for a minute, then they came up to him.

“Hey, Mr Naaman sir. If he had asked you to pay him all the money we brought, and then take a bath in honey and run away from an angry and hungry bear, wouldn't you have done that to get rid of your disease? Instead, He just told you to dip yourself seven times in the Jordan. Why not give it a try?”

This really gets to the main point of what I want to talk about today.

We often have an idea of what God wants us to do that looks dramatically different than what He has said He wants us to do. We have our own ideas and our own way. When we hear from God that something is different or the scenario plays out differently than we want, we get frustrated, like Naaman.

What we ought to do is to submit to God's plan. Even when it doesn't make sense to us. Even if others would make fun of us for going with God's plan. Even if it would cost us greatly. We need to submit to God and His plan because we know whatever God has said is the best for us. We have expectations, but God has a better plan than we could ever imagine!

So, what did Naaman do?

2 Kings 5:14 [CSB]

14 So Naaman went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, according to the command of the man of God. Then his skin was restored and became like the skin of a small boy, and he was clean.

His skin was as smooth as a baby's bottom. Which is a really weird way to describe someone if you think about it. “Oh, this feels just like that baby's butt.”

What!?

Never mind, let's move on.

Naaman was healed because he submitted to what Elisha told him to do. In other words, Naaman was healed because he put his faith in God, not in himself. He submitted to what God wanted him to do.

Conclusion

What do you need to do in your life to submit to God?

It may be an obvious sin you need to ask forgiveness for. It may be an action you need to begin doing: reading your Bible, praying, giving back what God has given to you. Whatever it is, let's take a moment to pray and ask God to help us submit to Him.

After that, we're going to make a reminder for us; a card we can fill out and put in our Bible, take a screenshot of and keep it on our phone, or stick on our mirror so we can remind ourselves how to submit to God.

Because that's what will lead us to life!

Pray