Comments for August 31

HUMBLE YOURSELF

Naaman arrived at Elisha's door. He was anticipating all the fanfare of a real miracle worker. No doubt there were magicians in the palace of Aram, and so Naaman's idea of what a miracle worker should be was influenced by what he had already experienced. So when Naaman stood at Elisha's door and there was no fanfare, no great man, no magic potions - nothing out of the ordinary at all, Naaman got upset. He was told by a servant to go and wash seven times in the Jordan River. Naaman's status was insulted. Being one of the top men in Aram, he had now been instructed by a servant to go and do something ever so simple in Israel's river. Naaman was furious. The expectations of this great man had been dashed, and the way he felt he had been treated was humiliating. However, to be cured, Naaman had to go through with this humbling process. When he had humbled himself enough to accept his instruction, Naaman was cured.

Like Naaman, we all suffer with leprosy - the leprosy of sin. There is no magic cure for sin, and the cure that has been provided does not cater for our status or pride. Instead we need to humble ourselves before our God, confess our sin and allow his mercy to wash us clean through baptism.>

ORDINARY THINGS, EXTRAORDINARY RESULTS

No one had to do anything outstanding throughout the whole episode of the healing of Naaman. While it is one of the most remarkable chapters in the Bible, it was also one where everyone involved played a relatively small part. A little slave girl was the first player in the story. She was no one special and did nothing outstanding. Yet her faith in God and in the prophet in Samaria and her wish expressed to her mistress began a chain of events that resulted in Naaman's healing.

Elisha didn't do anything outstanding either. His was a simple matter of instructing his servant to tell Naaman to wash seven times in the Jordan. There were no sacrifices, no show of calling on God, circles on the ground, potions or magic words. It was all quite ordinary.

Naaman's task was all to simple too. "Wash and be clean," he was told. I wonder if he expected twelve great tasks, or to take some marvellous medicine. But no, it was almost too simple for Naaman and he nearly refused to do it.

When Naaman was healed, no gifts were given or taken because when God gives grace, he gives it freely. It seems that Naaman learned his lesson because instead of offering to build a magnificent temple or some other great thing, he humbly asked for two mule loads of earth so that he could worship Israel's God on Israel's soil.

God rarely asks us to do great things. Instead he asks us to practice an outstanding faith in everyday ways.

THANK YOU One of the greatest qualities on Naaman that we can all learn from is the fact that he returned to Elisha after his healing to say thank you.

If your prayers are anything like mine, they tend to be dominated by requests ... please help ... please give me ... please lead ... please grow ...  please be with ... and on it goes. But even when I am feeling thankful, my thankfulness still does not outweigh my requests.

Naaman, a Gentile, an enemy of Israel, and a man who at first probably didn't even believe in Israel's God, came back to say thank you. How much more should we, who know God, who have been saved through the blood of his Son,who have had multiple prayers answered and seen multiple blessings in our lives, how much more should we turn back and give thanks to God? After all, without God in our lives, like Naaman with leprosy, we are as good as dead.

So instead of continuous prayers of "please," let's dedicate ourselves to some thankfulness.

v1 But he was a leper.

The one word leper negated everything that goes before it in this verse. No matter how high, noble and accomplished we might be in this age, we are all doomed to the grave. Hence we should get right with God now because everything else is just stamp collecting.

v2 the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel

Presumably she was orphaned by these marauding groups. She was young and alone in a foreign country that hated Israel - and she was placed in the service of the household of Syria's leading soldier! Surely she would have felt bitterness towards her captors and would secretly rejoice that Naaman was now so ill.

Not so.

She showed respect and compassion and was the person who first alerted Naaman to Elisha. Naaman must have been a leader who cared about his subordinates that they responded with such goodwill. Even Naaman's servants called him "My father" (v14) suggesting he was a likeable leader.

v10 And Elisha sent a messenger to [Naaman]

Elisha did not meet Naaman till after the miracle had been performed. Elisha was playing down his involvement - he wanted God to be at the centre, not himself. And Naaman was grandstanding thinking he should be the centre of attention (cp v11) but received a diplomatic snub in return. No wonder he was angry and felt humiliated at having to wash seven times in what he considered an inferior river. Naaman's pride had to be removed before he could be healed.

v15 Then he returned to the man of God

Naaman could have just gone home to Syria from Jordan without seeing Elisha. Instead he made a very public testimony to his discovery of faith in God. He was a man who followed through on the evidence. Elisha refused payment knowing that payment would have compromised the fact that God freely gave the miracle.

By contrast, Gehazi dissembled for profit (v22). Gehazi reduced the miracle to a transaction - Naaman was paid to be healed. God honoured the transaction - Gehazi received payment for the removal of the leprosy. So Gehazi received the leprosy from  Naaman in return for money. Gehazi was a rich leper!

v19 "Then [Elisha] said to [Naaman] 'Go in peace'"

Elisha did not condemn Naaman's request that his attendance at a pagan temple be overlooked. I suspect that Naaman returned to Syria and soon after retired from his job as commander of the Syrian army. His faith was incompatible with his job. Where is the evidence for this possibility? The next chapter sees the king using the army to fight Israel again (6:8, 24). This would have heavily involved the commander of the Syrian army - a position once occupied by Naaman. When his plans are frustrated, the Syrian king suspects that there is a mole in his inner circle who is advising the king of Israel of his plans (6:11,12). If Naaman were still commander of the Syrian army he would have been the most likely suspect, given his newfound faith in, and worship of, the God of Israel. Naaman is not only not a suspect but he is absent from the record.

Naaman probably retired and, in his early retirement, devoted himself to the worship of God within his new, small Syrian ecclesia.

A BURDENSOME YOKE Guilt weighs us down. When we sin and have not confessed our sins and have not been forgiven for them, we can feel like the weight of the world is pressing down on top of us, driving us to disappear, playing on our minds and on our bodies until we feel we cannot go on. Jeremiah seemed to feel the same way when he said, "My sins have been bound into a yoke; by his hands they were woven together. They have come upon my neck and the LORD has sapped my strength. He has handed me over to those I cannot withstand." Jeremiah's sins felt like a yoke that bore down on him, exhausting him and sapping the life strength from his bones. The burdens they gave him seemed to constantly demand more and more strength.
But we don't have to bear the yoke of sin. It does not have to drive us into the ground to die. Through Jesus Christ that yoke can be removed and instead we can put on his yoke, the yoke of forgiveness and love. "Come to me," Jesus said, "all you who are weary and burdened, an I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Cast off all your burdens and put on the yoke of Christ today!

The Book of Lamentations is accredited to Jeremiah, although no direct mention of him is made.  Certainly the tone of the work and the historical context would point to Jeremiah as the author. Lamentations consists of five poems of mourning (each chapter is one poem). 

 Chapters 1-4 are acrostic, which means that a letter of the (Hebrew) alphabet, in order, begins each sentence (i.e. aleph, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet begins line one; bet, the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet begins line two etc.). 

Chapter 3 differs slightly in that the same letter of the alphabet starts three consecutive lines rather than just the one (i.e. aleph begins the first three lines etc.). 

Even though we do not possess gifts of the Spirit today, there is exhortation for each one of us in this chapter. The many, or the few talents that each one of us have been granted, are not to be misused as it appears that the Corinthians did. The warning can go further, these God given gifts must not be ignored.