I Know a Guy
2 Kings 5:1-7 (NRVUE)
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 a skin disease. 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 skin disease.” 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 skin disease.”
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 skin disease? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.”
This is a classic story of the way we often get in the way of God’s Will getting done. It’s almost comical in its scope.
A mighty and beloved commander-in-chief of the armies of the King of Aram (Syria) has a serious skin problem, what would have been considered a curse from his gods, and no one in Aram seems to be able to help him. Such frustration and anger tends to be contagious, so now his household is upset as well. And, I’m guessing, the frustration would have spread through the court of the Syrian king so that everyone and their brother would have been offering the sage advice their grandmothers always offered in cases like this…confusing the situation even more.
In the midst of the maelstrom of frustration and anger there is a young, Hebrew slave girl that ended up in service to Naaman’s wife. The little girl, as young children tend to do, just says what’s on her mind, saying basically, “Hey, I know a guy who can take care of this.” Imagine how desperate Naaman must have been to accept advice from a child slave and then act on it.
So the slave girl tells Naaman’s wife about the great prophet Elisha. Naaman’s wife tells Naaman. Naaman tells his King of Aram. Then the King of Syria, who apparently writes terrible letters, writes to the King of Israel demanding that the King of Israel cure his general. Whatever message finally reaches the King of Israel apparently didn’t include Elisha’s name. So the King of Israel mistakenly thinks the whole thing is a plot to start a war between Syria and Israel.
The message the little slave girl communicated was simple, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his skin disease.” But by the time it was filtered through the frustration, anger, ignorance, self-importance, and ego of all those involved, it bears no resemblance whatsoever to the original intent.
How often in our own lives does the flurry of such emotions in our own hearts and minds get in the way of the Holy Spirit trying to deliver simple messages of love, hope and joy to us? The “still, small voice” is drown out and replaced by something that more closely resembles our wills rather than God’s Will. Deep breaths. A little quite pray time alone. Perhaps a bit scripture as well. These often lead to the solutions for our problems that sometime seem like curses from God. I often find that if I get out of God’s way, God’s Will gets done.
(…to be continued…)
May peace of Christ be with us all,
Jim McGrath
