Friday, July 24, 2015

What Did Naaman Think?

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)

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