“’Wash And Be Clean’”
Naaman, commander of the army
of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because
by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior,
suffered from leprosy. Now the Arameans on one of
their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she
served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If
only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his
leprosy. “ So Naaman went in
and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. And the
king of Aram said, “Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of
Israel.”
He went, taking with him ten talents of silver,
six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. He brought the letter
to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I
have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure
him of his leprosy.” When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his
clothes and said, “Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to
me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a
quarrel with me.”
But when Elisha the man of God heard that the
king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, “Why have
your torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a
prophet in Israel.” So Naaman came with his horses
and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a
messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh
shall be restored and you shall be clean.” But Naaman
became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for me he would surely come
out, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of
Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and
be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage. But his servants approached and
said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something
difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you
was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” So he went down and immersed himself seven times in
the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored
like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.
2 Kings 5:1-15
With every bad thing that happens, something
good can come of it. Finding the good can be a challenge, but Scripture
confirms that God uses bad circumstances for good purposes.
Naaman was reluctant to
follow Elisha’s humiliating instructions. When he finally did, he was healed,
which caused him to proclaim that Israel’s God is the only God.
God used bad things – a kidnapping of a young
girl from Israel, and a deadly disease – to change Israel’s enemy into a
friend. Even when we don’t know why something bad happened, we know that God
has the power to use it for good.
God is the master of
turning burdens into blessings.
Our Daily
Bread
– May 8, 2009