Healing through Obedience
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favour, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valour, but he was a leper. Now, the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little maid from the land of Israel, and she waited on Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, "Would that lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy."
In summary, Naaman came to Elisha's house, Elisha sent message to him, saying,
Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.
He became filled with rage and disappointed that Elisha did not call come out,wave his hand over the place, he didn't refer him to classy rivers and cure him, but at last one of his servants pacified him, at last:
he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
This encounter made him to testify, with his chariots to what God has done for him, he said:
***"Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel."****
Dear people of God and lovers of Christ, sometimes in life, our present challenging situations,diffulties of life, fear of uncertainty make us to disobey God even in little and simple instructions, only for us to do what we had been instructed to do either through his Word or by his Prophets; and we see the end result of overwhelming testimony, probably we even did it with a little doubt, we eventually give glory and praise to his name.
The Rejected and Unacceptable Prophet
There was a time: Jesus had come to Nazareth, he said to the people in the synagogue,
Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country...
Christ rebuked them and explained to them why our unbielf, doubtful nature deter us from receiving and experiencing the miraculous power and manifestations of God, in his Son or by his prophets. He opened their eyes to the facts that:
There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut down for three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land; and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of prophet Elisha; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.
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The concluding part of the scriptures says:
**When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and put him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hip on which their city was built,that they might throw him down headlong, But passing through the midst of them he went away.
The Word at the Center
When you are doing well, and you have won the approval of many people, the expectation is that the people closest to you, your kith and kin, will be among them. According to Jesus in the gospel of Luke 4:24-30; that expectation is not always met. As a matter of fact, your own people can be offended by your very success.
More often than not, it is because they know you only too well. As the saying goes,
Familiarity breeds contempt." The lack of recognition by his people did not deter Jesus from carrying on with his mission of salvation.
The lack of recognition by people should not stop a disciple of Jesus from doing whatever good he has been sent to do.
Say a Prayer!
Dear God, I know that I'm not perfect, I know I sometimes forget to pray, I know I have questioned my faith, I know I sometimes lose my temper, but thank you for loving me unconditionally and giving me another day to start over again. Amen.
Do not allow your life of active involvement in the house and in the things of God blind you from according God the due honour to him and his Son, remember:
Proximity is not the same thing as Connectivity.
God help us all, do have a blissful and fruitful day to the end.