Joel M Bradshaw

8But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s house. 10And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” 

11But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. 12Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. 

13But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.–2 Kings 5

1. Naaman was the commander of the Syrian army who had leprosy.
2. The Syrian king heard of a man of God in Israel, and sent Naaman and some gold to Israel’s king.
3. Naaman thus came to the door of Elisha’s house. He was expecting the man of God to come out and make a big deal about healing him.
4. Elisha instead stayed indoors and gave Naaman what seemed like a simple task.
5. The task contained hope, but it was not what Naaman was looking for.
6. People come to biblical counseling with problems and issues and long for hope. Reading and applying Scripture seems so simple and straight forward. But there is hope when a person follows God’s Word, the Bible.
7. Through doing so, I have seen the broken find peace. I have seen marriages find hope. I have seen former villains own their sin and humbly seek forgiveness. I have also seen former victims find perspective and trust God as they learn to show grace to the undeserving.–JMB