2 Kings 5 Naaman the Officer Whose Leprosy Was Cleansed Sunday's Growth Group

Hi folks,

Here is the next Bible study in Chuck Swindoll's book "Fascinating Stories of Forgotten Lives" for this Sunday's Growth Group at the church Manse. You are very welcome to invite folks along.

 

Every Blessing

Steve

 

Naaman   and the Seven Ducks in a Muddy Creek

 

¹     Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.² Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman's wife.³ She said to her mistress, "Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy."⁴ So Naaman went in and told his lord, "Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel."⁵ And the king of Syria said, "Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel."

     So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing.⁶ And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy."⁷ And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me."

⁸     But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel."⁹ So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha's house.¹⁰ And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean."¹¹ But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, "Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.¹² Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage.¹³ But his servants came near and said to him, "My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, 'Wash, and be clean'?"¹⁴ So 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.

 

 

 

Second Kings 5 contains the story of a miracle and a mystery. The account is very well crafted in the way that it's recorded. The writer uses what literary experts call dramatic or situational irony, where the reader knows something that the character does not. As a result, the character's actions take on a different meaning for the reader. Writers often use this device to force a reader to reexamine his or her own values or opinions, which is certainly not a bad idea in this case!

In order to prepare our minds to appreciate this story, we need a fresh perspective. Isaiah 55 will help:

Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters;
And you who have no money come, buy and eat.
Come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without cost. . . .
Incline your ear and come to Me. . . .

Seek the LORD while He may be found;
Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return to the LORD,
And He will have compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD.
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts."

Isaiah 55:1, 3, 6–9

 

SEEK THE LORD

 

Effective and insightful Bible study always begins with very careful observations. First, please notice that these words are written to those who do not know the Lord. They would be what we call "seekers," those who are on a search for God (whether they realize it or not) because something has sparked their interest. Peter Marshall, the greatly beloved Presbyterian chaplain of the U.S. Senate during the late 1940s, called this "the tap on the shoulder":

If you were walking down the street, and someone came up behind you and tapped you on the shoulder . . . what would you do? Naturally, you would turn around. Well, that is exactly what happens in the spiritual world. A man walks on through life—with the external call ringing in his ears, but with no response stirring in his heart, and then suddenly, without any warning, the Spirit taps him on the shoulder. The tap on the shoulder is the almighty power of God acting without help or hindrance . . . so as to produce a new creature, and to lead him into the particular work which God has for him.¹

This "tap" begins with a command: "Seek the Lord."

Second, also notice that this command to seek involves an invitation, a warning, and two promises. The invitation is to call upon the Lord. The warning is for this unrighteous seeker to abandon his current way of thinking and turn—repent—from the direction he or she is heading and move toward God. The tone and context carries an implied warning, much like a mother might say to her child, "You'd better listen!" Fail to abandon that old way of thinking and the seeker will have a price to pay, serious consequences to face. And the promises include the Lord's compassion and the offer of complete pardon.

Third—and crucial to understanding our story—don't overlook the fact that the Lord has a surprise in store for anyone coming to Him. Carefully observe verses 9 and 8. Read them slowly. This is important, not only to the miracle story of 2 Kings 5, but also to understanding how the Lord wants to write your story:

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD.
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts."

Isaiah 55:8–9

 

You may remember in the earlier chapter on Abigail, we saw this principle in action. After the Lord brought justice down on Nabal, otherwise known as Fool, His plan to bless David and Abigail could clearly be seen. It was there all the while, standing just behind the door of obedience.

The Lord delights to surprise us with His goodness, if only we will unlock the door of obedience with the key of faith—which He has given us—and then push it open and walk through.

You may think you have already reached the pinnacle of God's goodness in your life. If that describes you, are you ever in for a surprise! As long as you have breath in your lungs, the Lord wants to surprise you with His ways. He is infinitely creative and inexhaustibly resourceful. His ways don't conform to our way of thinking, and we make Him less when we expect that they should. Furthermore, His plan is much higher than ours. His goal is not to bring us down, but to lift us up. Contrary to popular opinion, He has no desire to bury us, but to raise us for His use and His glory.

But it's a lengthy and arduous process. Once we turn from our way to pursue Him, we have a long journey ahead. I made that turn as a boy, and my surprising adventure of traveling with God began on that day. It continues to this very moment. Just about the time I think, That was it.This past year was the ultimate. How could the Lord possibly arrange more surprises for Chuck Swindoll? Then, sure enough, the next year amazes me with the twists and turns no one could have predicted, including me!

As we turn to the miracle story of 2 Kings 5, keep Isaiah 55:6–9 in mind. Remember what we've observed: the invitation, the warning, the promises . . . and especially the surprise.

THE SEEKER

 

Like exquisite jewelry, a story needs a setting. And this one is a bit unusual for what we normally see in the Old Testament. You may remember from the chapter on Rehoboam that the Hebrew nation split as a result of his foolishness. The ten tribes of the northern kingdom called themselves Israel, while the two tribes in the southern kingdom were called Judah. Not surprisingly, they fought regularly. This was a civil war not unlike the War between the States from 1861 to 1865. This was a tumultuous time—a time of confusion and upheaval, a time when enemies may suddenly join forces to fight an invader, then return to hate and distrust one another after the crisis.

During this confusing time in Hebrew history, God worked primarily through His prophets, who served as His spokesmen. The Bible was not yet complete, so the words of a genuine prophet were those of the Lord. True prophets made no mistakes in their announcements and predictions. If the declaration of someone claiming to be a prophet turned out to be incorrect in any way, that person was to be taken to the outskirts of the city and stoned immediately. Often the messages of a prophet were delivered in written form. These were preserved along with the recorded utterances of other prophets whose words proved to be authentically from God, and they have been preserved in our Bible. Prophets played an all-important role prior to the completion of the written Word of God. They were God's mouthpiece.

This story occurred during a lull in the fighting between the northern and southern kingdoms. Syria (or Aram, as it was called by the Hebrews) was a growing civilization to the north of Israel and had begun to take an interest in Palestine. One particular prophet didn't find much favor with anyone. Elisha, like his mentor, Elijah, remained at odds with his society. Very few kings of his era followed the Lord, and the one who did merely tolerated Elisha's presence. Perhaps we could say, Elisha had no friends in high places. What the prophet Elisha did have, they feared: supernatural power. As a result, most everyone left him alone.

The main character in this episode of Elisha's ministry is a man called Naaman. (His name is pronounced Nah-ah-man, with all three a's sounding the same.) Of all the people Elisha dealt with in his ministry, none of them was of Naaman's caliber as a man. Check out his resume:

Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man with his master, and highly respected, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man was also a valiant warrior, but he was a leper.

2 Kings 5:1

 

In just a few phrases, we learn that Naaman was a remarkable man. He was neither of the northern nor southern kingdoms. In fact, he wasn't even a Hebrew. He was a high-ranking officer in the Syrian army—what we might call a field marshal or a four-star general. Scripture calls him "a great man with his master," so he obviously enjoyed the trust and friendship of the king of Syria, Benhadad. Furthermore, his bravery gained him the respect of everyone around him. He would be considered a responsible, honorable, and distinguished military man in our day. But for all of his wealth, power, respect, and success that his courageous achievements and noble character brought him, he suffered with the disease of peasants.

In Hebrew, the sentence strings these accolades together in rapid succession so that the ending shocks the reader. In effect, it reads, "He's esteemed, he's respected, the Lord made him successful, he's noble, he's valiant, he's a leper." A what? A leper. Someone normally feared and completely shunned by the general public because this dreaded disease killed its victims slowly and painfully.

The term leprosy was used to describe a number of skin ailments, everything from foot fungus to the horrible Hansen's disease. As a result, some commentators would suggest that it wasn't the terminal form we normally associate with rotting flesh, missing fingers, and bloody bandages. But, as we'll see later in the story, the lengths to which Naaman went to find a cure showed him to be a desperate man.

Nevertheless, had he been Hebrew, Naaman would have been cast out of society once any chronic skin condition presented itself, especially something as bad as Hansen's disease. But he's Syrian, remember. The venerable German scholar C. F. Keil offers this observation in his commentary on 2 Kings:

There is an allusion here to the difference between the Syrians and the Israelites in their view of leprosy. Whereas in Israel lepers were excluded from human society, in Syria a man afflicted with leprosy could hold a very high state office in the closest association with the king.²

In Israel, no leper could keep his position of authority. God instituted laws concerning leprosy to protect the general population from epidemic disease, but pagan influence had twisted their meaning. Leprosy came to be seen as an indication of God's displeasure and the outward mark of inward sin. This is ironic considering the state of morality in Israel during this era. But not in Syria. By their culture, a leper could remain active, involved with other people, even guiding the important affairs of state.

The day Naaman noticed the first spot on his skin must have come as a shock, much like the sudden blow at the end of verse 1. Let's imagine what happened. He rolled out of bed one morning, began to put on his clothes, and looked down to see what irritated his skin. To the man's total shock . . . it had all the characteristics of leprosy! Suddenly other words probably came to mind. Pain. Hopeless. Terminal. Unfair. And just as quickly, the medals that hung from his chest, the pomp and prestige following a hundred victories, the string of impressive accolades all withered. The momentous proof of his approaching mortality made him dizzy. Everything he once thought important seemed utterly insipid. Patients who face the very real possibility of death will testify to its power to clarify things. My own heart attack back in October 2000 immediately resulted in a wake-up call. A different list of priorities filled my mind.

While we have applied a little imagination, let's not forget that Naaman wasn't a fictional character. He was a man. And no man wanted to waste away with a terminal disease any more then than now. However, keep in mind that this is a miracle story.

THE WAY OF THE LORD

 

Now the Arameans had gone out in bands and had taken captive a little girl from the land of Israel; and she waited on Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, "I wish that my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his leprosy."

2 Kings 5:2–3

 

Isn't God's way fascinating to watch? Do you recall the invitation of Isaiah 55?

Seek the LORD while He may be found . . .
Let the wicked forsake his way . . .
And [the Lord] will have compassion on him . . .
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD.

Isaiah 55:6–8

 

In plain and simple terms, this was Naaman's tap on the shoulder. The Lord began working in his life to offer him healing. Of course, the prophet he heard about was Elisha, but this man's world was Syria. As far as he was concerned, Elisha was just another hocus-pocus holy man blindly engaged in one of many worthless religions. Look at this from his perspective. What had the Syrian gods done for Naaman? He also must have concluded that if the God of Israel was so powerful, why did His kings worship the gods of other nations?

His general attitude toward the Lord on any other day would have been dismissive at best. On this day, however, something was very different. On this day, news of a prophet in Israel had great significance because Naaman had a grave need. Take note of his reaction:

Naaman went in and told his master, saying, "Thus and thus spoke the girl who is from the land of Israel."

2 Kings 5:4

 

Naaman must have sounded desperate to King Benhadad. To appreciate the significance of this, let's put it into a modern-day setting. Imagine the secretary of state to be a man diagnosed with ALS, the terminal, degenerative disease that took the life of Lou Gehrig. His body is already beginning to twist and contort so that everyone notices how difficult walking has become for him. He's fought bravely, and he has won the respect and admiration of his peers, but soon he will be unable to walk, or talk . . . or even move. Finally, he will die. And with the smell of desperation on him, he steps into the Oval Office and says, "Mr. President, a housekeeper that my wife hired told me about a voodoo medicine man down in Honduras. She says he can cure my disease."

Frankly, my initial impression is that Naaman's response represents the impulse of a man trying to seize onto anything that might save his life, even if it sounds ridiculous. I will quickly add, I wouldn't blame him. And the words I would choose to redirect his steps would be laced with sensitive tenderness. Someone that desperate and in that kind of pain needs gentle compassion, not cold logic.

MISSTEPS OF AN EARNEST SEEKER

 

King Benhadad immediately wrote a letter to the king of Israel requesting permission for Naaman to see Elisha. So, with the little girl's sketchy information, the four-star general began a desperate search for the prophet. But his actions reflect the thinking of a nonbeliever. Observe in the following verses some errors common to unsaved people who respond to the tap on their shoulder.

Then the king of Aram said, "Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel." He departed and took with him ten talents of silver and six thousand shekels of gold and ten changes of clothes.

2 Kings 5:5

 

The natural order of things on Planet Earth says that nothing's free. A man with the power to heal terminal diseases must be in great demand and hard to reach, so bribes will be necessary. And once someone gains an audience, he'd better be ready to put up a lot of cash. Healers don't come cheap. Authentic ones could charge whatever they wish.

Naaman's first error: he thought he could purchase his healing.

This still goes on today. Too many people are willing to pay for something as wonderful and significant as heaven. Unfortunately more are willing to pay their way into heaven than those willing to believe their way in. Yet the invitation is clear: "Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost" (Isaiah 55:1)

The idea that we must come to the Lord with gifts and offerings of money in order to receive His grace is reinforced every day by the so-called word-of-faith message that crowds the airwaves and television channels. We are told that we must sow seeds of faith in order to reap a harvest of God's blessings. The discerning know what they mean. The "seed" is money, the "ground" is their pocket, and the "blessing" is whatever ails you. And this brings us to another mistake the unsaved often make.

Naaman's second error: he thought he would be healed by another sinner.

He brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, "And now as this letter comes to you, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may cure him of his leprosy." When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man is sending word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? But consider now, and see how he is seeking a quarrel against me."

2 Kings 5:6–7

 

The letter by the king of Syria was considered standard protocol in those days. In pagan cultures, the priests kept the people mystified, and they answered to the king, the deity's physical presence among humans. Naaman expected that the king would direct his holy men to perform the right incantations to heal his leprosy.

Beware any human being who even hints at having special power from God or secret knowledge of His ways. During Old Testament times, the Lord held both prophets and priests especially accountable so that no one would ever mistake who had the power. Unfortunately, many so-called Christian leaders behave more like pagan priests. To gain healing, you have to attend their rallies and give money to their organizations in order to receive specially "anointed" devices.

Let's not forget the invitation in Isaiah 55:3, 6: "Incline your ear and come to Me" and "Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near." Notice the Bible never says, "Seek My prophet and let him heal you. Call on My priests while they may be found." That's because the relationship is between you and God. In the Old Testament, the priest merely served as a go-between, a messenger. Now, in this New Testament age, Jesus Christ is our High Priest. And because He is God, we (as individual believer-priests) have direct access to the Almighty through our Savior.

I'll be blunt. Let no man, no woman pretend to be the Lord's sole representative in terms of proclaiming His message of miraculous deliverance or His power to cleanse your sin and/or heal your life. God, alone, does that personally. Go directly to Him.

The king of Israel was right to be frightened. He knew that he could not heal Naaman, nor could he order Elisha to do it. The God of the Hebrews doesn't operate that way. He's reasonably sure that Benhadad knew it as well and was using this opportunity to put him at odds with the military commander:

It happened when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent word to the king, saying, "Why have you torn your clothes? Now let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel."

2 Kings 5:8

 

God was at work. His ways are mysterious and higher than our ability to understand. We can only wonder how Elisha heard about this. In whatever way that happened, he sent orders to the king of Israel (see the pecking order here?) to have Naaman visit him. On the surface, it would seem that Elisha was violating the very principle I mentioned earlier. As the story unfolds, however, we'll see that this was merely his way of preparing this seeker for an introduction to the Lord.

All of this leads to Naaman's third error: he came with a list of his own expectations.

So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots and stood at the doorway of the house of Elisha. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you and you will be clean."

2 Kings 5:9–10

 

That was it. No long, drawn-out ceremony. No hocus-pocus. No smoke or bloodletting or lengthy prayer vigil or even a face-to-face meeting. A man of great dignity had crossed diplomatic bridges and a number of miles. He brought with him the equivalent of multiple thousands of dollars, in the hopes of gaining an audience with a powerful shaman who would call upon the mysterious forces of the universe to make him whole again. What a letdown!

Can you imagine the scene? As General Naaman stands outside the prophet's house with his entourage of chariots and mounted soldiers looking on, an unknown household servant creaks the door open, quietly steps outside, and gives him a message. He says, in effect, "Elisha says to go dip in the river seven times and you'll be fine. Have a nice day." The door shuts and the bolt slides into place. The seasoned soldier in full-dress uniform stands there speechless. The prophet didn't even bother to come to the door, nor did he make one remark over all the nice things the man had brought with him. And what a humiliating, silly set of instructions! "Doesn't this prophet know who he's dealing with?"

But Naaman was furious and went away and said, "Behold, I thought, 'He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.'"

2 Kings 5:11

 

"Naaman was furious." Of the six primary Hebrew words referring to anger, this is perhaps the strongest. It usually describes God's righteous wrath toward sin. Naaman was angry because his encounter with God met with none of his personal expectations. (That still happens.)

He expected to be taken seriously by the prophet. Naaman was a man who commanded armies. When he spoke, people jumped to action. His mere presence brought others to their knees. He was important and probably thought that the prophet ought to be impressed to think a man of his rank and authority would even show up at his obscure little village.

He expected his illness to be taken seriously. He would have felt better if Elisha had met with him and then said something like, "Well, this is going to take some doing, but I think we can motivate God to do something extra with the piles of money you brought." All of that would feed his pride and make him feel (and look!) important. He expected the cure to be elaborate, or at least dignified. Take note of his reasoning:

"Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage.

2 Kings 5:12

 

In effect, he said, "If bathing is the answer, why would I wash my body in some sorry little river in Israel when we've got our own great rivers back home? Syrian rivers are better than all the waters put together in the land of Israel. This is downright stupid!"

Sound familiar? You're witnessing pride on parade. "I want cleansing on my terms, in my way, earned by my merit. I will have no part in such humiliating actions!" But as we learned in Isaiah 55:

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD.
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts."

Isaiah 55:8–9

 

GOD'S FAITHFULNESS TO THE SEEKER

 

Naaman felt like he was getting the runaround. Nothing was what he expected. Yet, by virtue of the author's use of dramatic irony, we see the Lord guiding this seeker every step on his journey to cleansing. God first used a servant girl, then the king of Syria, the king of Israel, a soft-spoken messenger of Elisha, and, finally, Naaman's own servants in order to keep him on the right path:

Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, "My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, 'Wash, and be clean'?"

2 Kings 5:13

 

Naaman came dangerously close to going back home to die. And it would have been his own stinking pride that killed him—his own stubborn unwillingness to abandon his way for the Lord's. We see the same scenario all too often today. People are told the good news of salvation by grace alone, only to respond with, "That's too simple. Where's the dignity? Where's the effort? If it's all that life changing, surely something sacrificial is required of me!"

Fortunately, Naaman's servants were able to convince him otherwise. Perhaps desperation got his attention and kept him teachable. As he listened, he probably realized he was out of options. Slowly, his pride melted as he pondered the simple set of instructions. Finally . . .

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.

2 Kings 5:14

 

What a miracle! Don't miss the simplicity of it. Elisha arranged the healing so that the Lord, not himself, would be seen as the cleansing power. And he included just enough complexity—seven dippings—to ensure complete obedience. Beyond the surprising procedure he was to follow, this was nothing more than ordinary water in an ordinary river. No angels sang. No trumpets, fire, or smoke. Nothing glowed. The only extraordinary element in this miracle story is the invisible, invincible Lord—His invitation, His ways, His grace, all for His glory. As the man's flesh was restored, only One was deserving of his praise. How grateful he must have been to look down and see that he'd been cleansed!

LESSONS FOR THE SEEKER

 

Four lessons for any and all seekers arise from Naaman's experience:

First, only when we acknowledge our own sin-sick state will we seek cleansing.

Jesus Christ didn't come to Planet Earth to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners. Once someone acknowledges his or her sinfulness, the journey to salvation is over halfway traveled.

Second, only when we hear the truth will we discover the path to cleansing.

The Lord tapped Naaman on the shoulder and then whispered the truth in his ear using a slave girl. Then He put people in the leper's path to bring him closer, step by step. Without those reliable messages of truth, he would never have been cleansed.

Third, only when we reach the end of our own way will we be ready to follow the Lord's.

His way doesn't involve a lot of money or sacrificial effort or secret knowledge or good behavior. His way is nonnegotiable. It violates our normal, earthly sensibilities and requires the absence of pride. As soon as we abandon our own way, we're capable of following His.

Fourth, only when we do as God requires will we receive His cleansing.

Merely knowing where to find the Jordan River and what to when he got there was not enough. He had to put actions to his faith by stripping down, actually getting wet in the river, and immersing himself precisely seven times. Nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else. God's way is like that. Just as leprosy is not cleansed by your homemade prescription, salvation is not cut by your homemade pattern.

The powerful, pleading words of a Scottish preacher provide a fitting conclusion:

I advise you to get over your temper, and to try that very way that you have up till now been so hot and so loud against. It will humble you to do it, and you are not a humble man; but if you ever come back from Jordan with your flesh like the flesh of a little child, you'll be the foremost to confess that you had almost been lost through your pride, and your prejudice, and your ill-nature. . . .

You all know, surely, what the true leprosy is. You all know what the leprosy of your own soul is. It is sin; yes, it is sin . . . it is yourself. . . . O leper! leper! go out with thy loathsome and deadly heart . . . Go wash in Jordan. Go in God's name. Go in God's strength. Go in God's pity, and patience, and mercy. . . . Go this moment.³

There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Emmanuel's veins,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.

 

 

Questions For Growth Groups

 

Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters;
And you who have no money come, buy and eat.
Come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without cost. . . .
Incline your ear and come to Me. . . .

Seek the LORD while He may be found;
Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return to the LORD,
And He will have compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD.
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts."

Isaiah 55:1, 3, 6–9

 

Recount a time when God completely surprised you with a way He answered your prayers?

 

 

What did you learn from this situation?

 

 

How did God providentially arrange Naaman to go to Elisha?

 

 

 

Refelct on these verses:

Joseph told his brothers in Egypt.

Genesis 50: 18 His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, "Behold, we are your servants."19 But Joseph said to them, "Do not fear, for am I in the place of God?20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

 

Romans 8: 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

 

Can you see the irony in this story about Naaman?

 

 

How was Naaman humbled by God?

 

 

Proverbs 16:9  The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.

 

 

How are the lessons from Naaman's life appropriate to your life?

 

 

Are there principles from Isaiah 55 and 2 Kings 5  that you need to incorporate into your life?