The healing of Naaman, the leper, (2 Kings 5:1-19) is not just a story of the healing of a man from one of the most dreaded diseases of ancient times, it is the perfect depiction of the state of our nation. Naaman was a man whose very name meant handsome, gracious, or well-formed, but he suffered from a debilitating condition that was deforming him and robbing him slowly of the vitality of life.
Through his history revealed, he was a hero and was popular and prestigious, now he was grotesquely ill. When he heard through a humble servant girl that he could be healed by God, he chose first to go to a king to see if the solution could come through his financial and political clout. He was inclined to put his trust in power, position, and riches. Instead of thinking in terms of God’s grace, he naturally thought in terms of favoritism, the leverage of power, wealth, and what one can earn or buy. He thought that he could somehow earn what he needed to receive by grace. When Elisha invites Naaman to come to him, Naaman becomes insulted by the way he was treated that struck at the core of his illness which was pride and the desire to dictate his own salvation. What he needed was to humbly bend his knee in obedience without telling God how he wanted to be healed.
Today, we remember our independence, our victories, our honor and prestige in the world, yet we know that we are somehow much weaker and sicker than we have been in our short history. If only we would humble ourselves, and as a nation, call out for healing by God’s grace.
“But He gives a greater grace. Therefore, it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6
It is easy to quote this verse but not so easy for us to do, but we must.
“if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:14
