SOME GREAT THING
There was a man by the name of Naaman who lived toward the end of the 9th century B.C. This man was the captain of all the armies of Syria. He was vastly wealthy and powerful, and he was trusted and respected by his king. Despite all that Naaman had going for him, though, he was a leper.
Leprosy
was a dreaded disease. It caused the
flesh to rot from the bone; and it made outcasts of those who were afflicted by
it because no one wanted to be exposed to it or to look on those who had
it. This was obviously a traumatic state
of affairs for any one, let alone a man in Naaman's position.
During
an earlier raid into the land of Israel, the Syrians had taken some captives
among whom was a young girl. This little
maiden was placed in the house of Naaman to wait on his wife. Upon hearing of her new master's affliction,
she said to her mistress, "Would God
my lord were with the prophet
that is in Samaria! for he
would recover him of his leprosy." (2 Kings 5:3).
God
uses the weak and foolish things to confound the strong and the wise. He uses us, who are insignificant, to
accomplish His great plans. This young
girl had every reason to be discouraged and to lose her faith in God; and yet,
finding herself a slave in a heathen land, she begins to witness of the power
of God through faith to her mistress!
Everything about her circumstance screams, "God can't use
you!" She could have allowed
herself to question her relationship with God; after all, if God loved her, why
would this happen to her? She could have
used her age and inexperience as an excuse not to testify of her faith. Instead, however, this maiden spoke a simple
word of faith that was the springboard to a great and mighty miracle.
How
tremendously important it is to understand the power that you and I have
received to witness to the world. Jesus,
in His great commission to His disciples, said, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:
and, lo, I am with you alway, even
unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matthew 28:18-20). He has received all power in
heaven and in earth; and His next statement is, "Go ye therefore." He is telling us that because He has this power then we can be empowered by His Spirit to
reach out to those in need. We are the body of Christ. We are His mouth, we are His hands, and we
are His legs. Oh, how we must learn to
let Him use our mouth to speak to the world, use our hands to reach out to the
hurting, and use our legs to go to those in need.
Someone
in Naaman's household heard the witness of this young girl and went and told
his master. The king of Syria also heard
of this testimony. Both these men were
moved to action by what they heard. Faith
was stirred in the hearts of these powerful men. Never doubt that the words which God gives
you to speak, no matter how simple or ineloquent, will have a powerful impact
on those who hear it. Even those who overhear you can be greatly influenced
by your witness. "…for who hath despised the day of small things?"
(Zechariah 4:10).
With
his king's blessing, Naaman prepared to travel to Israel to seek his healing
from God. He took with him about $80,000
in gold and silver as a reward to the man of God. Besides this, he took 10 sets of costly
clothing to give to the prophet.
When
Elisha the prophet heard that this Syrian captain had come into Israel to seek
a healing, he sent for him to come down to his house. When Naaman arrived, Elisha didn't even
bother to come out to receive him or invite him in. Instead, he sent his servant to relay this
message, "Go and wash in Jordan
seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be
clean." (2 Kings 5:10).
Naaman
was very angry. He was expecting some
pomp, some honor, and some great thing to be spoken over him, or asked of
him. To be told to go dip seven times in
the Jordan was unbearable. Were there
not greater rivers than these in the land of Syria? Naaman was so offended that he would have
returned back to his home unhealed. His
servants, however, spoke to him saying, "If the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou
not have done it? how much
rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?" (2 Kings
5:13). He did listen to their reasoning,
and he went and did as the prophet had said and was healed.
We,
too, sometimes get side-tracked by wrong expectations. We miss the little things that God gives us
to do because we are looking for "some
great thing." Perhaps our
healings, our deliverances, and our spiritual freedom has more to do with our
faith and simple obedience in those small things that He asks us to do day-by-day. Praying, witnessing, being in the Word -
these are all merely products of the faith we have in Christ. Ultimately though, our desire is that God be
glorified. Sometimes that is when we are
miraculously healed; and sometimes it is when we are not and we endure it
patiently. Naaman could have taken a
lesson from the young maiden who served his wife. She gave her simple testimony and then left God
to do the rest, however He chose to do it.
Let's
quit waiting for God to do some great thing in our lives, wasting precious time
and energy being angry with Him, or with ourselves, because He is not doing things
according to our expectation. Let's,
instead, embrace the little things that He has given us to do, and then see Him
work miracles out of those things!
“There is a lad here, which hath five barley
loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?” (John 6:9).
LITTLE IS MUCH WHEN GOD IS IN IT
(Words
& Music: Kittie L. Suffield, 1924.)
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