Naaman’s Pride

God is good!

I want to invite you on a journey through the Old Testament to discover a rather amazing story. The Old Testament has many great stories depicting GOD in His greatness and magnitude. Revealing His character and defining who He is. There is a somewhat misconception about the “God of the Old Testament” as there would be more than one GOD in the Bible. This amazing book called the Bible only portrays GOD, the One and merely existing. There is a difference between what GOD did in the Old Testament and what happens in the New Testament. But these two do not stand in contradiction, they complete each other. What is more, the New Testament quotes the Old Testament many times and it shows that its narrative is established in the Old Testament. If that is the case, then it’s like when GOD writes the New Testament, he quotes Himself. Furthermore, the Old Testament contains numerous prophecies about Jesus’ miraculous birth, life, and death on the cross. So, the connection between the parts of the Bible is much deeper than we see sometimes. The story we will explore here, will again, prove this and expose GOD in His greatness and the human traits in its corruption.

The humble people speak up

The GOD of the Bible and not only is the one who still writes the history. At the end of the day, history is His story, and no one can change it. This is what the Bible illustrates among other things. Each time the humans disobeyed GOD He remained in charge. No one could dethrone Him, though some have tried while they were dwelling in Heaven. Sadly, for them, it did not end well. But that would be another story to look into. The road I would want you to embark on is the one from Syria to Israel. The same journey Naaman did so he could be healed of his leprosy.

Naaman’s story can be found in the Bible in the book of Second Kings chapter 5. It begins with describing Naaman’s status. A captain of the Syrian’s king army and a great man with his master and honorable. Because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria (quoted verse 1). There is Naaman, a man with social status in his country, famous for what the Lord did through him, respected by those in his charge, and especially appreciated and respected by the king himself. Quite a colorful portrait here, but his description ends rather unexpectedly. He was a leper. An incurable disease for those times. The story continues to be showing that Naaman had brought from Israel captives into his country and Naaman had a little maid in his house. This little maid had told her master that GOD the Lord was with the prophet from Israel and this prophet could help Naaman to recover from leprosy. Hearing this news, Naaman gathered all that was needed for the long travel and took with him gifts to give to this prophet, perhaps as payment or to show his gratitude for his services, hoping to be healed. Moreover, Naaman asks for permission from his king, who hastily sends him and gives him a letter to ensure safe passage to Israel. I sense here a desperate man. A man who probably has been seeking help to be healed from that horrible disease. Naaman did not question the little girl, neither did he think to plan a thorough journey into a land from which slaves have been taken. There might have been people not happy about that. The letter to recommend Naaman to the king of Israel and asked to assist and support Naaman in his search for this prophet would have helped him. But when the letter was read by the king of Israel, he trembled a bit, as the king of Syria failed to say why Naaman was traveling to Israel, and he thought that the Syrians were looking for a pretext to create a context for another war with them. The king of Israel rents his clothes in desperation as he cannot heal Naaman of his leprosy, as the letter requested. But what amazes me is that the king did not know that in his own country, there were men, prophets of God who could do this. The news reached Elisha the prophet. When he had received it, that the king was unsettled by the request, the prophet sent back a response to inform him, that Naaman to go to see the prophet. And this is where the story begins.

The life journey

Naaman took all his belongings and went down to meet Elisha, where another surprise would accommodate him. Being a great man, respected and honorable, with high status, and the captain of the army, his expectations were equal to his eminence. Once arrived at the prophet’s house, Elisha sent a messenger to tell the great captain, to go and wash seven times in the Jordan river, and he will be healed from leprosy. The message was not received well. It infuriated Naaman, and he went away, turning his back to the prophet and his message. As mentioned, Naaman was expecting the prophet to come outside, see him, consult his disease, and then give him treatment. But the prophet does not move a finger. He sends someone else to inform Naaman of the thing he has to do, to be healed. Probably, Naaman was right to be angry. His expectations were equal to his status and perhaps to the graveness of his disease. He went ahead and kept saying that there were rivers in Damascus better than all the waters of Israel. He might have been right. At the end of the day, Jordan is not the cleanest river. The people who came along with Naaman came close to him and spoke unto him, trying to settle his heart and spirit. They brought up an interesting argument to encourage him to obey the prophet’s message. They said unto Naaman, “If the prophet would’ve asked you to do some great thing, wouldn’t you do it? How much rather than, when he said to you, to wash and be clean?” It seems it was understood by Naaman, and there he is, going in the river, less good than what he had in his country. He plunged seven times, and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean from leprosy. A full renewal of his body to an even better condition than expected. Like the flesh of a child, smooth and tender.

Once healed, Naaman returned to the prophet’s house, and this time he spoke to Elisha himself, saying “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but the God of Israel.” wanting as well to give the prophet of the treasures he had taken with him for this purpose. The prophet refused to take and Naaman returned to his country.

Sitting on a high horse

There is no doubt that Naaman was a proud man and demanded respect and his expectations to be met. However, going through his story, pride almost got him to return home still a leper. Indeed, it’s inherently in humans, a desire to accomplish great things. As Naaman was ready to do at any time, but I am inclined to believe, we often do not see the great things which happen in our life. Life is such a short string. One great thing I did today, was to wake up. And it is a magnificent thing I received. Because it is not in my power to wake up every day. We must admit, that we take for granted many things in our life, upon which we do not have any control.

In such a manner was Naaman. The things he did, he took them for granted. He accomplished many great things and was expecting to live so. But he met with the One who changes people. We do have a wrong perspective on what excellent means. Looking beyond the storytelling, I noticed that Naaman had to get off from his high horse, and with humility to receive the gift already given by Elisha. The prophet could not take back his word, could not say it in another simpler way. It was plainly said to Naaman what he had to do. Naaman’s natural response was indignation. But his response did not cancel the gift of being healed of leprosy.

The everlasting journey

And there it is, what this story is actually about. To take on everlasting joy requires quitting whatever you expect to happen. And that is the gospel message. A simple truth so hard to accept. Because it requires only faith to get to heaven. Same as Naaman, when he listened to his servants dip himself in the Jordan River, it was a leap of faith. And that leap required humility. If we give it another thought, Naaman was expecting the prophet to come and touch him, to check on his disease, and then something miraculous to happen. Yet, Elisha did not meet any of his expectations, Naaman refutes the message given by the prophet through his servant, and in the end, Naaman is persuaded to obey by one of his people. It is a third had messenger persuaded Naaman. So, the Syrian captain was humbled to be humbled in doing what the prophet had told him to do to be healed. It was indeed, a rather simple thing for him to do, but that is what the gospel is about. Such a simple and plain statement to attain eternal life. What is more, the gift has been already given, through Jesus Christ on the cross. Whatever you do, will not cancel the power that is in Christ’s sacrifice. It will keep you away from enjoying it.

I hope that this far, you got the idea of what was required from Naaman, to get rid of his leprosy. Humility! And not because he was a proud man, but because faith is fruitful in humility. Now, you might ask yourself, why is humility required to receive this great gift of eternal life? Well, think about this for a moment. God Himself, humbled to die on the cross for every single human on the Earth. He humbled and became so lowly. And God did not do that towards us, but to Himself. He humbled himself. Naaman did not humble before the prophet, nor did he do that to the messenger and neither to his servant. But to his benefit.

The gospel message is clear and plain. Believe in Jesus Christ, and what he did on the cross. Being God, he loved so much the world, died as the supreme sacrifice, so that whoever believes in him, will have eternal life. And that right there, is humility. We ought to understand, that the benefit is ours only.

What would stop someone from grabbing such a marvellous gift, is the opposite of humility, is pride. Self-abnegation is far from the human being in many aspects and domains of life and existence. Do not fall in the deception of thinking you are in control of anything, because we are not. The sun rises and goes down, a day passes, and another comes. None of them are determined or caused by us. With or without us, they continue. I know that there might be better things somewhere else. But same as Naaman, have you traveled this far, to look back now? Even if they are better, it does not mean they can fulfill your need to be at peace with the Created and yourself. Whatever are those things which hold you back, or even persons, do not hold back. Get off and dip yourself in the gospel truth and you will rise renewed.