Healed

"So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. And his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child's, and he was healed!" II Kings 5:1-19
 
Falling out of bed, my little granddaughter managed to break her collar bone. With a colorful miniature sling in place, she came bouncing into our house announcing, "I broke my collar bone, Grandpa!" I carefully bent over and gave her a little hug and words of comfort. Satisfied, off she went to make sure everyone else knew what had happened. "Grandma, I broke my collar bone!" Within a few weeks tops, the novelty wore off along with the pain. She was healed, the sling disappeared and she resumed her full contact two-year-old life.
 
Naaman, the mighty Aramean army commander, found himself in a sling too. It wasn't a cloth strap over his shoulder. It was a slow terminal skin disease, leprosy. Given the testimony of a young girl of a healing prophet in Israel, he took off with quite the entourage. Elisha sent word to Israel's king to send Naaman to him. A simple messenger greeted Naaman with the instructions to simply wash. "Wash in this dirty river!? Not happening!" he yelled. Naaman's real sling was sin. The leprosy was God's gracious way to address it. Humbled and healed, his heart belonged to God.
 
Which character do you most identify with today? The little girl sharing the Good News? The lost in space king of Israel? The proud self-sufficient commander looking for affirmations of his importance? His friends who loved him enough to tell him the truth? This scene is a microcosm of the human condition. All the infirmities in this world are ultimately rooted in sin. Sin's antidote is singular. It is the blood of Jesus shed on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. God's gracious healing awaits all who will humbly turn and believe. What response is God nudging you to take?

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