What did
Naaman think
When he
traveled from afar—
Six thousand
pieces of gold
And 10
changes from his wardrobe—
To arrive
in a foreign land before
A foreign
king and ask for healing?
What did
Naaman feel when
The king
tore off his clothes in
A rage,
appalled at the great
Assumption
that he would have
Super-God
powers to restore
A leper’s
flesh?
Was he
afraid?
Was he
in fear for his life?
Did he
think a political war might
Break
out when Israel’s king
Began questioning
if Naaman’s
Purpose of
coming was to start a quarrel?
He was
only seeking healing.
What did
Naaman think when
He showed
up at Elisha’s door
(once saved
from political war by Elisha’s
Message to
the court),
Only to
be greeted by the prophet’s servant
And given
orders to take a bath in the
River to
receive the healing
His body-eating
disease sought to cheat
Him from.
Ludicrous.
To come
so far,
To seek
God’s healing.
To be
promised he would find
What his
heart longed for,
To be
given hope and for it to be wrenched away.
Is this
some joke?
A game?
Naaman,
favored by the King of Syria,
Led into
a false promise of a whole life,
A life
where the fear of losing a finger or toe,
Being outcast
from all of society,
Might be
as far from him as the floor bottom of
The ocean.
What did
Naaman think when his treatment for leprosy
Was delivered
as a dip in the waters?
A bath?
A bath?!
No
audience with the prophet?
No display
of calling on the God
Of Israel
to send down healing,
No waving
his hand over the sickly man,
No dramatic
show of God’s
Power?
No
thunder or lightening or angels
Or shouts…no
lights no action,
No display?
No demonstration?
A bath?
A dip in the water?!
To prescribe
such a simple
Solution
for his diagnosis:
Ridiculous!
What did
Naaman think when the servants
Challenged
his disdain?
Their prodding
led him to the waters,
And into
his flesh restoration.
What did
Naaman think when the
Prophet of
God
Refused his
gifts of jubilee?
When Elisha
stood before him
And proclaimed,
“’I will receive none’” (5:16)?
How
could Naaman break even,
Repay the
debt of a life restored,
It didn’t
feel right to be given
Something
for free,
To be
brought back to life and
To not
be allowed to in some way
Fulfill the
debt of being given
Something
that could never be repaid,
To not
even be allowed to try?!
It seemed
so wrong!
What did
I think when I looked for my
Healing,
When I was
told to “confess with your mouth that Jesus
is Lord
and believe in your heart that God raised
Him from
the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9)?
That this
heart belief and mouth confession,
Would be
the answer, the healing
My being
longed for,
Heading for
the flames, fading second by second,
What a
simple procedure.
Almost
ridiculous, quite preposterous
To simply
believe and confess
And a
single commandment:
"'Love
the Lord your God with all your heart
and with
all your soul and with all your mind…'
And the
second is like it:
'Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Mt
22:37-38).
What did
I think when I heard the complicated
simplicity
of eternity?
What can
I give, what can
I sacrifice,
how do I even begin
To fulfill
the debt of being given
Something
that could never be repaid,
To not
even be allowed to try?!
How
often have I tried to break even,
To earn
my own healing,
To deserve
it, to be perfect so I
Could feel
somehow…
Worthy?
What
have I thought when I’ve been told
that all of my “righteous acts are like filthy
rags” (Isaiah 64:6)
before
God?
And that
I can’t do anything.
It is
counter-nature,
How can I
be justified:
“For by
grace you have been saved through faith” (Eph 2:8).
ACK!!!
I am
humbled, again.
I
accept, I accept, I accept.
Sometimes
I will forget
That I cannot
pay for it, that it will look
Different
than what I expect,
“’I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’"
(Mark 9:24)
This gift that I sought
to find,
Its simplicity
that I’ve often over-complicated,
And the unavoidable
price that you covered for me at the door:
I accept,
I accept, I accept!
(Based on
2 Kings 5 & 6)
