¿Acaso soy Dios?

El Justo Vivira Por La Fe  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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No one can pay for what God can do in our lives.

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Leproso

Que Era la Lepra?
Llevada Cautiva

Brought away captive. War is cruel. The little girl had been carried away from her home, and was now in an enemy land, seemingly forsaken by God and without comfort or hope. Life seemed to have for her little of good, and she might have become bitter and morose if she had allowed herself to center her thoughts upon herself and her unhappy plight. But even in an alien land God had a service for her to perform.

Waited on Naaman’s wife. The captive maid was living the life of a slave, forced to serve in the home of the commander of the armies that had laid Israel low. But she must have been faithful in her service, for otherwise she would not have been employed in the home of an important official.

With the prophet. Although a captive, the maid did not forget her homeland or her God. Nor did she think thoughts of ill toward those who had taken her captive and forced her into an involuntary servitude. Filled with love toward her God, her heart went out in sympathy to her ailing master and his wife. Instead of wishing Naaman ill because of the misfortunes that had been brought upon her, she wished him well and hoped for his recovery from his terrible disease. Remembering the marvelous works of Elisha in her homeland, she had faith that the prophet could heal Naaman of his leprosy. What God had wrought through His servant in Israel, she believed He could also perform toward those of an alien race.

He would recover him. Leprosy was regarded as an incurable disease. But the Hebrew maid had been taught by her parents that there is nothing impossible with God. The parents had discharged their responsibility well, and the result was this wonderful testimony in behalf of Israel’s God in a land that knew Him not. Naaman learned of a power beyond the power of men because a faithful father and mother in Israel had brought up their child to love and trust the Lord.

One went in. That is, Naaman went to his lord the king of Syria and related to him the words of the captive maid. Little did the girl understand the import of her words of faith in God. Naaman believed because the girl believed, and he carried her testimony before Syria’s king. Thus was Benhadad to learn that Israel’s God was a God of power and a God of love.

The greatest testimony that can be borne in behalf of the God of heaven is the testimony of a person whose life reflects implicit confidence in Him.

I will send. Not only had the young maiden’s testimony of faith created confidence in the commander of the Syrian hosts, but it also created a measure of faith in the heart of Syria’s king. Faith begets faith and love begets love. Faith is an ever-widening circle that goes out from heart to heart and from land to land, until it encompasses the globe. Only eternity can measure the results of that testimony of confidence in Israel’s God borne by the captive maid before her mistress in an alien land.

Ten talents of silver. Naaman was not asking for healing without being willing to pay. Not being acquainted with Israel’s prophet and Israel’s God, he brought with him sufficient treasure to make possible for the prophet a handsome reward. Little did he realize that the Lord would be willing to heal him, and wished neither silver nor gold in return. Little did he know that Elisha served God and his fellows, not from a spirit of wordly gain, but for the good that he might be able to do.

Am I God? Leprosy was regarded as a living death. The king of Israel realized that this was a disease that only God could cure, and it was beyond his faith in God to believe that man could be used as an instrument in the hands of the Lord to restore anyone stricken with such a disease as this.

Instead of seeing in the request of Benhadad an opportunity for the revelation of the wonderful power of God, the king of Israel looked only at the darker side of the picture. Certainly, he thought, the letter from the Syrian king could not have been written in good faith, but was only a pretext for seeking a quarrel against him. He probably imagined that Benhadad had intentionally sent a request with which it was impossible to comply, in order that he might use it as an occasion for war. Rather than to think of the Lord or His prophet Elisha, Joram thought only of himself, and his utter inability to deal with the situation

Wherefore? What Joram looked upon as a catastrophe, Elisha regarded as an opportunity. What the king of Israel could not accomplish, the prophet would be happy to undertake with the help of the Lord. While the king was filled with despair, the prophet looked upward with hope. In hours of difficulty and perplexity it pays to remember that there is a God in heaven who looks down in love and mercy upon the frail children of earth.

Let him come now to me. Joram feared, but Elisha welcomed the visit of the commander of Syria’s hosts. The king had for Naaman no message of cheer and no word of hope. But Elisha asked that he come to him in order to find healing of body and restoration of soul. The prophet was anxious that Naaman become acquainted with the love and power of Israel’s God, and that he take back to his own people a message of comfort concerning the hope that all might have in Him. The home of every child of God should be a haven of rest to all who are in need.

House of Elisha. Doubtless a humble abode. This was not the palace of a king, but in this home Naaman was to find something that the king’s palace could not offer. The humble cottage gate was to Naaman a door to life and hope.

Wash in Jordan. These directions to Naaman bring to mind the command of Jesus to the blind man, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (John 9:7). In both instances a command was given that tested the faith of the recipient. Only in implicit obedience would healing be found. The waters of Jordan were to be to Naaman the waters of healing and life. There is wisdom in obeying the commands of the Lord.

Instruye al nino en su camino...

I thought. Naaman had his own thoughts, but these were not the thoughts of God. He had heard of a man who could cure him of his leprosy, and immediately he came to his own conclusions as to exactly how this should and would be accomplished. He made a plan of his own, and then expected that God would work according to that plan. But man’s preconceptions as to what should be the Lord’s mode of action are often erroneous. When we map out beforehand the path of Providence, we may expect disappointments.

God chose to lead Israel out of Egypt by a passage through the Red Sea, but that was not the thought of man. God sent His Son to be born in stable and cradled in a manger, but that was not according to the ideas of the great and mighty of earth. God had His Son live among men as a servant to those in need, but that was not in accord with the thoughts of the Jews concerning the Messiah who was to come. The man who would be saved and walk in the ways of the Lord must learn that God’s ways are infinitely higher and better than the ways of men (Isa. 55:8, 9).

Abana and Pharpar. In the sight of man these rivers undoubtedly were better than all the waters of Israel. The rivers of Damascus were pleasant, and made the area blossom as a rose. Compared with these life-giving rivers of his own country, the Jordan was to Naaman a small and disappointing stream. Yet if he wanted to be healed of his leprosy, it was in the Jordan and not in the Abana that he was to bathe.

Some great thing. Naaman was a great man and expected to do great things. He was haughty and proud, and to wash in the waters of the Jordan would be a humiliating experience. But he was being tested by God for his own good. Only by complete obedience to the Lord’s directions could he hope to find favor with God. His proud heart must yield, and he must gain the victory over his own stubborn, selfish will. He must acknowledge the God of Israel as more powerful than the idols of the Syrian groves, and the directions of Elisha as superior to his own thoughts and desires.

The saying of the man of God. Naaman had to bring himself to the place where he acknowledged Elisha as a man of God and a spokesman for Heaven before he could hope to secure the blessing for which he had come. There would have been no healing if he had not seen light in the prophet’s words. But when he did according to the directions of the prophet, his leprosy was washed away. When God speaks through a prophet, it always pays to put aside one’s own opinion and accept the message of the Lord. Only thus may we find ourselves walking in the ways of God and partaking of His blessings.

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