The Fourth Wall - Day 23
2 Kings 5
4 So Naaman told the king what the young girl from Israel had said. 5 “Go and visit the prophet,” the king of Aram told him. “I will send a letter of introduction for you to take to the king of Israel.” So Naaman started out, carrying as gifts 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and ten sets of clothing. 6 The letter to the king of Israel said: “With this letter I present my servant Naaman. I want you to heal him of his leprosy.”
7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes in dismay and said, “Am I God, that I can give life and take it away? Why is this man asking me to heal someone with leprosy? I can see that he’s just trying to pick a fight with me.”
8 But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes in dismay, he sent this message to him: “Why are you so upset? Send Naaman to me, and he will learn that there is a true prophet here in Israel.”
This is where the story gets interesting. So, as you read, the king is amenable to having Naaman go to Israel, even though they are already in a bit of a conflict. So Naaman brings a ton of riches to try and butter up this prophet and his king. But when the king of Israel see’s the note from the King of Aram, he gets pretty worried, as he thinks that the is supposed to heal Naaman, and if he can’t he assumes he will be attacked. In fact, that is something that might have happened had Naaman not been healed.
This is a pretty precarious situation. I don’t think that the problem is that that the king of Israel didn’t have faith, I think he was just doing politics and trying to figure out what the king of Aram was up to. He was probably right to be worried about an invading army pulling something like this.
But when Elisha heard of his consternation, he wasn’t having it, and he pushed back on the king, basically saying, “hey man, you know I am a prophet of the one true God, right? Relax!”
Have you ever stuck your neck out, only to be worried that it might get cut off? It is entirely possible that this would not have worked out for Naaman, Elisha, or the king of Israel.
Anytime we are going to trust in God for the solution there is going to be some danger, some questions, and some concern that things might not work out. That is not always a lack of belief, that is just being human.
When we take on the risk of trusting in God, we sort of have to go all in! We can’t sort of hope that it works out. We have to dive head first, trusting that God will make good on his promises. And to be clear, this is pretty scary.
But think of the alternative. A life where you hold your own counsel, where you expect nothing more than what is expected, and you stop believing that God is still at work and worth trusting. I never want to live like that. I want to live in the awe and wonder of believing that God is still working in our lives and in this world.
4 So Naaman told the king what the young girl from Israel had said. 5 “Go and visit the prophet,” the king of Aram told him. “I will send a letter of introduction for you to take to the king of Israel.” So Naaman started out, carrying as gifts 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and ten sets of clothing. 6 The letter to the king of Israel said: “With this letter I present my servant Naaman. I want you to heal him of his leprosy.”
7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes in dismay and said, “Am I God, that I can give life and take it away? Why is this man asking me to heal someone with leprosy? I can see that he’s just trying to pick a fight with me.”
8 But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes in dismay, he sent this message to him: “Why are you so upset? Send Naaman to me, and he will learn that there is a true prophet here in Israel.”
This is where the story gets interesting. So, as you read, the king is amenable to having Naaman go to Israel, even though they are already in a bit of a conflict. So Naaman brings a ton of riches to try and butter up this prophet and his king. But when the king of Israel see’s the note from the King of Aram, he gets pretty worried, as he thinks that the is supposed to heal Naaman, and if he can’t he assumes he will be attacked. In fact, that is something that might have happened had Naaman not been healed.
This is a pretty precarious situation. I don’t think that the problem is that that the king of Israel didn’t have faith, I think he was just doing politics and trying to figure out what the king of Aram was up to. He was probably right to be worried about an invading army pulling something like this.
But when Elisha heard of his consternation, he wasn’t having it, and he pushed back on the king, basically saying, “hey man, you know I am a prophet of the one true God, right? Relax!”
Have you ever stuck your neck out, only to be worried that it might get cut off? It is entirely possible that this would not have worked out for Naaman, Elisha, or the king of Israel.
Anytime we are going to trust in God for the solution there is going to be some danger, some questions, and some concern that things might not work out. That is not always a lack of belief, that is just being human.
When we take on the risk of trusting in God, we sort of have to go all in! We can’t sort of hope that it works out. We have to dive head first, trusting that God will make good on his promises. And to be clear, this is pretty scary.
But think of the alternative. A life where you hold your own counsel, where you expect nothing more than what is expected, and you stop believing that God is still at work and worth trusting. I never want to live like that. I want to live in the awe and wonder of believing that God is still working in our lives and in this world.
- Do you believe God is still alive and moving in the world?
- How can you put your trust in God just a little more today than yesterday?
- Do you think the king was reasonable in his concern?
Pastor Timothy Gillespie
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