1 and 2 Kings Day 4

The text we are to read today has some amazing stories in it. I know many folks shy away from reading Kings and Chronicles because they think they are boring, but these chapters prove that perception wrong! Read on to see the heartbreak of losing a mentor, one who should be careful what he asks for, important information from unexpected sources, unlikely but miraculous cures, greed and punishment, wrath of a woman scorned, and loving devotion of a nursemaid -- all in three short chapters!

Today's Reading: 2 Kings 2, 5, 11

Today's Devotion: 2 Kings 5:8-13

8 When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: "Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel." 9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed."
11 But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?" So he turned and went off in a rage.

13 Naaman's servants went to him and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, 'Wash and be cleansed'!" 14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. (NIV)

taken from www.biblegateway.com

There are many serious illnesses that cause us to travel far and wide to find cures. Leprosy was (is) a hideous, disfiguring disease that required the person who had it to be separated completely from the rest of the world. According to 2 Kings 5:1, "Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier."

Despite his position in life, he faced quarantine. He was so desperate for a cure that he listened to a foreign child and traveled more than 100 miles. Can you imagine making that trip and then being told to 'take a bath'? This was a man who was used to pomp and circumstance. He may have been preparing mentally for a painful cure and he was ready to be a model of bravery in that situation. And Elisha didn't even come out to meet him personally!

God's answers to our problems don't always make sense to us...in fact they usually don't. Sometimes they seem so simple or so ridiculous that we have trouble believing the Ruler of the Universe is telling us to take action. Like Naaman, we fight against the instructions we received and we often turn away.

Is God giving you instructions today that seem rather silly or useless? If, like Naaman, we would give up our pride and just be obedient, we, too, will see that our God knows best.