Readings for today: 2 Kings 5-7, 8:1-15
The story of Naaman has always resonated with me. Maybe because I’ve met many modern day Naaman’s myself. I have met witch doctors and tribal leaders who were utterly devoted to their pagan gods but who contracted a disease or suffered a loss and through a miraculous series of events, turned to faith in Jesus Christ. it could be through a dream or a vision. A miraculous healing or resurrection. A sudden turn of fortune like rain during a drought or an overwhelming harvest. God uses a variety of ways to make Himself known. Some are natural. Some are supernatural. It’s less about the means and more about the ends as Naaman himself discovered. Yes, there were plenty of rivers for him to bathe in back in Syria but that wasn’t really the point. The point is by bathing in the Jordan, he is exercising faith in the God of Israel rather than the gods of his own country. The same is true when God delivers Israel from the armies of Syria. One time He strikes them blind. Another time He causes them to hear the sounds many chariots and horses. Again, the means don’t matter. What matters is God is making Himself known to His people.
I think about my own life. I think about the many ways God has revealed Himself to me. Sometimes through pain and hardship. Sometimes through joy and success. Sometimes through ordinary means. Sometimes through extraordinary means. I have experienced God’s deliverance personally. He delivered me from sin and death through the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit when I was in college. He delivered me from the foolish choices I made as a husband and father through Christian counseling. He delivered me from professional mistakes through different godly friends and mentors. He delivered me from fear and anxiety by performing many signs and wonders in the church I love and serve. Sometimes I find myself questioning God’s means like Naaman. Sometimes I fail to appreciate God’s means like the Israelite king Elisha was dealing with. Sadly, I sometimes I even try to take advantage of God’s means to serve myself but God is always faithful. Faithful to confront. Faithful to convict. Faithful to forgive my unbelief.
God wants to make Himself known. This is the main theme running throughout the Bible. He makes Himself known to individuals. He makes Himself known to the nations. And He is still making Himself known today. How is He making Himself known to you? How is He making Himself known through you?
Readings for tomorrow: 2 Kings 8:16-29, 2 Chronicles 21, 22:1-9