By Chris WittsMonday 24 Apr 2023Morning Devotions with Chris WittsFaithReading Time: 1 minute
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Transcript:
Sometimes God teaches us lessons the hard way. Naaman was the commander in chief of the Syrian army when Elijah, the prophet, told him, you’ve got to go to the Jordan River and dip in it seven times if you want to be healed of your leprosy. Well, having heard about Elijah, he was the miracle worker in Israel. He had a letter of recommendation from the King of Syria, had thousands of dollars in silver and gold.
He came to Elijah with the hope of being healed. He had this dreadful leprosy disease. But here was Elijah. He wasn’t influenced by Na’s rank or didn’t even come out to greet him. But he sent a messenger to say to Naaman, Look, I want you to go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan in the river and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed. That’s in 2 Kings 5.
Well, Naaman’s pride was hurt. He said, “Look, I thought at least Elijah would come out and talk to me. I expected him to sort of wave his hands over the leprosy and call upon the name of God to heal me. Why,” he said “I could wash it at home and get rid of that leprosy.” And he went away in a rage. We’re told in the Bible. Well, Naaman’s officers sort of had a bit more sense than that. They said, Look, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you have done it?
Well, you should certainly obey him when he says to simply go and wash and be cured. So here we read in the Bible how Naaman swallowed his pride and did what the prophet told him, and what happened?
Well, he was completely healed.
He was so grateful he returned to Elisha and implored him to accept the gifts that he brought. But Elisha wouldn’t accept the gifts. So here was Naaman, a great man, a commander in chief of the army. If he hadn’t been prepared to let go of his dignity, he would never have been healed. So isn’t it true thinking about that old Bible story that sometimes we feel we are unhappy or we’ve got problems or there are conflicts inside us?
How often do we need to listen to the simple message of God and let things go? Maybe it could be you. Maybe you’re not prepared to let go of your pride or your dignity and in doing that, come to God on his terms. And when you come to God on his terms, you always find that God will make you face up to the thing that might be causing the problem because God wants us to use our own common sense. He wants us to confront the issue and even overcome our personal problems by obeying him because, after all, he wants to live a full life. We want to live a life that God has given us in the fullest way. And to do that I think there are a couple of things here. We need to be childlike. And I didn’t say childish, but I meant to be childlike because what did Jesus say?
He said to his disciples, Actually, listen, I tell you the truth. Unless you change and become like little Children, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Well, it is true. Children are lovely. Of course, they’re in touch with their true selves because Children don’t hide or stuff their feelings inside. They don’t put on some sort of false front or pretend they’re real. So I think if we want to overcome perhaps the problems that we might have, we need to do the same to have that attitude. Many of our problems are physical illness. Ulcers are not caused so much by what we eat, but by what’s eating us.
Someone said many ulcers and not all of them, are symptoms of a deeper problem. So we need often to face up to whatever it is that’s going on inside emotionally and ask God to bring his healing. And he will do that if we face up to it. Of course, there are matters that come with conflict with people not getting on with people that can, of course, have an effect on us. Sometimes you hear about the phrase negative emotions well. Many of our problems are caused by stuffing those feelings deep down. We pretend instead of facing up to how we really feel and so we become bitter and resentful. We just don’t sort of become real people. It says in James 5:16 confess your sins and falsehoods to one another and pray for each other to clear the way for your healing.
So come to God and share how you feel with people.
Let’s Pray
We thank you, Lord, that you help us to be real. May we be real people with your help today? Because, Lord, I ask it in the wonderful name of Jesus, Amen.