WORDS: for good or evil?

 

THE CAPTIVE AND THE COMMANDER

 

 We’d walked to the hospital to visit our daughter-in-law and meet our newborn grandson for the first time. After navigating our way to the maternity ward, the staff admitted us behind locked doors, and we entered the safe environment. My daughter-in-law held out her newly born son, and I cradled him in my arms. He opened his eyes and stared at me, my ‘Nanna’ voice strange to his tiny ears. I marveled at his long fingers and ten toes, perfectly formed in his mother’s womb. He whimpered. I cuddled him close, and he settled, but I suspected he was hungry. After a feed, he fell asleep in his grandpa’s arms. Our vulnerable newborn grandson trusted us and everyone around him to keep him safe. The maternity ward was his haven in a big, wide world, where he could begin his life journey.

 

 An Israeli girl lived in Southern Syria. Wrenched from her family and her country, she was a slave of Naaman, the commander of the king of Aram, and she trusted God. Had her parents taught her about God’s power and goodness from infancy before she was captured? 

 

Naaman had leprosy. The young slave was his wife’s servant, and she’d seen leprous Israelites. (Jesus referred to them in Luke 4:24.) With courage and compassion, she spoke to her mistress.

 

“If only my master would visit the prophet, Elisha, who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”

 

 Naaman was desperate. He visited Elisha, who told him to wash seven times in the Jordan. At first, he refused, believing he could improve on the prophet’s cure.

 

 “Abana and Pharpar are better rivers. Couldn’t I wash in them and be clean?” He flew into a rage and stalked off, but his servants persuaded him to try Elisha’s cure.

“If the prophet had told you to do a mighty deed, you’d have done it. What is so difficult about washing in the Jordan?”

 

Naaman realized his men were right. He washed in the Jordan River and God healed him. His skin was like that of a young boy. Amazed by the miracle, he committed his life to Israel’s God.

 

“I know there’s no God except the God in Israel!”

 

He received spiritual healing for his soul, and physical healing for his body because he accepted God’s way of salvation.

 

Who would have thought an enslaved girl could change the course of a commander’s life? 

The average person in Damascus would have considered her influence to be tenuous. Yet God had placed her in Naaman’s household to lead the commander back to himself, the first step to his salvation. God protected her and made her available for his purposes.

 

 Her childlike trust in God may inspire us to share our faith. We never know the power of our influence.

‘Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken at the proper time.’ Proverbs 25:11.

 

 Leprosy marred Naaman’s life and his achievements. He commanded his army, and they obeyed, but he held no authority over his leprosy. The girl knew she held no authority, but she trusted in God, who holds all authority and power. She obeyed God’s prompting despite the dangers.

 

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No-one comes to the Father, except by me.” John 14:7 NIV.

 

Naaman tried to earn his salvation and healing. He brought Elisha gifts, wanted to wash in a river of his choice, but his salvation depended on submission to God’s method of salvation.

 We can’t earn our salvation. It’s a gift from God through our Lord Jesus Christ, accepted with the simple faith of a child.

‘Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’ Matthew 19:14.

 

When we face dangers and trauma, the Lord Jesus controls our lives. He knows why our journey must pass through rocky mountain paths or deep valleys. The young Israelite’s faith encourages us to leave the present and the future in God’s hands, and to look beyond ourselves to support and lead others to Jesus Christ. Our dangerous place may well be God’s choice, the place where his future believers live. His protection will prevail.

 

‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.’ Proverbs 3:5,6

 

The cornerstones of our Christian journey are love, faith and obedience. When God asks us to live by them, he reveals his love, grace, and mercy. We are his beloved children and his servants. Let’s live in love, faith, and obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ.