"Thus And Thus"

  

Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.

   And the Syrians had gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman's wife.

   Then she said to her mistress, "If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy."

   And Naaman went in and told his master, saying, "Thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel."

   So the king of Syria said, "Go now, and I will  send a letter to the king of Israel." So he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing.

   Then he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said, "Now be advised, when this letter comes to you, that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy."

   And it happened, when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy? Therefore please consider, and see how he seeks a quarrel with me."

   So it was, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, "Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall lnow that there is a prophet in Israel."

   Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of the house of Elisha.

    And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean."

   But Naaman became furious, and went away ans said, "Indeed, I said to myself, 'He will surely come out to me, and stand and call out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.'

   "Are not the Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israe? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage.

   And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, 'Wash, and be clean?"

   So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

   Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his aides, and came and stood before him, and he said, "Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel; now therefore, please take a gift from your servant."

   But he said, "As the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will receive nothing." And he urged him to take it, but he refused.

   So Naaman said, "Then, if not, please let your servant be given two mule-loads of earth; for your servant will no longer offer either burnt offering or sacrifice to other gods, but to the Lord.

   "Yet in this thing may the Lord pardon your servant: when my master goes into the temple of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow down in the temple of Rimmon---when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord please pardon your servant in this thing."

   Then he said to him, "Go in peace." So he departed from him a short distance. 2 Kings 5:1-19

There are a number of players in this account that we can take a look at today, ranging from Elisha, the kings, Gehazzi, and of course Naaman himself and while I love sharing about these guys today I want to look at the servants. This whole account takes place because starting with the little maid who served Naaman's wife, a servant was faithful to speak on behalf of the God the truly served. The little maid told about the man of God in Israel who, "would heal him of his leprosy." She didn't say maybe, or even could, but 'would heal him of his leprosy.' I love that she was confident not only about God's ability to heal but that it was a done deal if Naaman was in the presence of the man of God as well.

Next comes the servants that convinced Naaman to be obedient to the words that Elisha spoke to Naaman. Naaman was walking away in anger because it wasn't happening the way he thought it should. But his servants saw only his need to be healed and stepped up to persude him to give God a try.  "And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, 'Wash, and be clean?" Because these servants made a stand for the words God spoke Naaman had a change of mind and decided to be obedient to what he was told. Because these servants spoke up ...the outcome was ..."and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean." Because these servants made a stand for God we also see that Naaman became a servant of the the Lord as well! ..."Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel; now therefore, please take a gift from your servant."

So as you can see the word that kept jumping out at me today ...servants. Servants of the Lord gave testimony about their God and His ability to heal and because of that very simple act ...lives were changed! Naaman's life was changed! He was healed and and restored and serving God because servants were bold enough to speak on behalf of their God. My favorite line in this whole account (at least for today)  "...And Naaman went in and told his master, saying, "Thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel."

Naaman went to the king with the words this little servant girl spoke. How about you and I. Are we, the servants of the Lord in the earth today, telling people to get in His presence. Are we telling them he has the power to heal, and to restore? Are we challenging people to trust the words of our God and seeing lives changed? Are we being faithful to speak boldly on behalf of our God? Are we being the kind of servants of the Most High God that never hold our peace when we see a need? Is someone quoting us and saying, "She said, "Thus and Thus about the Lord?"