Today’s Scripture Reading (June 6,
2013): 2 Kings 5
A number of
years ago I spoke in a church during a special week of services. I had just
been released from the hospital with a serious leg infection and I was not
supposed to have my leg down – and I had to drive ten hours to the place where
I was scheduled to speak. And they had left the subject of what I wanted to
speak on up to me – which admittedly is always a dangerous thing to do. I
decided that I would speak on the subject of forgiveness. So on the first night
of the services I introduced the subject with a story of a pastor who had run
off with the secretary of the church, and of his eventual repentance, but that
the churches all over the city in which he had ministered continued to turn
their backs on him. It had gotten to the point he had board members meet him at
the door of churches that he had wanted to come and visit and ask him to go
away. And that first night all I wanted the people who had gathered there to
understand was that forgiveness is our responsibility. What I did not know –
and could not know - was that I had just read their mail. While the story I
told was true, it had originated 3000 miles away from where I was preaching – but
they had gone through exactly the same things that had happened in the story.
They were insulted by the story – and on some level even angry that I had
picked on their sin. But the truth was that I didn’t know what had happened in
their church a decade earlier.
Naaman has
leprosy. In the ancient world, leprosy was not curable – in fact, not only
could it not be cured, it seemed to spread like wildfire through a society. So
the king of Aram sends Naaman to Israel in the hopes that maybe the prophet
Elisha could heal him. But the custom of the day was that the letter would have
only spoken in generalities – and the specifics would have been left to the
letter carrier. The letter that Jehoram read probably went something like this
– “To Jehoram, King of Israel from the King of Aram. This is my servant Naaman.
Naaman has leprosy and needs to be cured.” All Jehoram can think about as he
reads the letter is that the King of Aram wanted war - because what was being
requested could not be accomplished by anyone on the face of the earth.
The truth
might have been that it was God that was getting ready for a fight. Because as
Jehoram receives the letter, he does not even consider what God might be able
to do. He is just angry with what is being asked of him. Our greatest mistake –
and sin – is that in the midst of the situations that life throws at us we
forget that God is here and that he cares. That was exactly what Jehoram did.
And, sometimes, we need to listen to the words that are spoken to us – and
letters that are given to us - because it might just be that it is God that is
doing the speaking and that the person that is standing in front of us is
simply being used by God to get our attention.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Kings
6
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