Thank you to the men of my small group who gave me the idea of today's blog:

Read 2 Kings 5. You will read the story of Naaman, a "commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded...". (2 Kings 5:1)

Naaman had one big problem though; leprosy. In those days, leprosy was a huge issue both medically and socially. So for this very highly regarded, valiant soldier who was in charge of the king's army, leprosy was a huge embarrassment I imagine.

Naaman is told by a young captive girl from Israel to see Elisha to be cured. (You read the story right? Don't just rely on my summary). Naaman travels to Elisha only to be told by a messenger to go wash seven times in the Jordan to be restored. Naaman is incensed! Verse 12 says he went off in a rage. Not only is the Jordan a nasty body of water compared to some better rivers nearby, I can just hear as Naaman exclaims "How dare he send a messager, doesn't he know who I am"!

If you must know, Naaman is convinced by one of his servants to follow Elisha's directions and his flesh is restored. Naaman ends up recognizing the God of Israel. One of the messages of this story was that Naaman, a great man socially, was healed because God used two servants and a messenger, and hopefully humbled Naaman in the process.

Last night the men in my group were talking about how we often find ourselves thinking we are like Naaman and think we should be treated like great, highly regarded men. When in fact we should be serving our families, our brothers and sisters in Christ, and our fellow man like two servants and a messenger!

Be humble my brothers!

Philip J.