Long ago there was an army commander of the king of Syria named Captain Naaman. The king liked him very much, but Naaman was not happy inside. There was something wrong. This great army captain knew that he had an incurable disease called leprosy and that he would eventually die from it.
There was a little slave girl from Israel working in Naaman’s house who believed that Elisha, the prophet of the Lord in the land of Israel, could heal Naaman, and she told Naaman’s wife about this. When his wife told Naaman what the little slave girl had said, he only half-listened. However, he told the king about what the slave girl had said.
The king said, I’ll send you to the king of Israel, with a letter to him. Naaman took the letter, along with ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of fancy clothes to pay the king of Israel. Naaman couldn’t even carry everything; he had to have animals carry all that treasure.
When the king of Israel read the letter from the king of Syria, he knew that curing Naaman of his leprosy was something he could not do! Taking away even one spot of leprosy was impossible, and he was angry! That king of Syria is just looking for a fight! ... He knows I can’t do this!
Did you notice that Naaman went to the wrong man? The little slave girl had not said to go to the king of Israel; she said to go to Elisha, the prophet of the Lord. The Lord had given Elisha the power to do miracles. That little girl knew more than captains and kings knew, because it was the power of God that she believed in. And here’s something else that kings and captains often do not know! God can take your sins away, all of them, not for money or any kind of payment, but with the precious blood of His Son Jesus. Nothing, absolutely nothing else will do. He tells us it is Jesus— “in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:77In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; (Ephesians 1:7)).
Elisha heard of the king’s problem in not being able to heal Naaman’s leprosy, and he asked the king to send Naaman to him.
Naaman listened to the message that was sent to him from the prophet Elisha. But he didn’t get his healing right away, because he thought that an important person like himself should have a face-to-face meeting with the prophet. Elisha didn’t even come outside of his house to talk to him. He sent a message instead: Dip into the Jordan River seven times, and you will be clean.
Not me! Naaman didn’t want to wash in that river! He was furious about this! I think he would have gone home, leprosy and all, but one of his servants had a wise word of encouragement. His servant said, You would have done a hard thing, but this is easy! Why not do the easy thing?
So Naaman went down to the River Jordan as the prophet had told him. Seven times he dipped into that water, and when he came up the seventh time, his skin was as healthy as a little child’s! His leprosy was completely gone! But something else wonderful also happened. Naaman came up out of that water with not only new skin but a new heart too. He truly believed in the God of Israel!
Naaman didn’t have to pay anything or do any work or special deeds to be cured of his leprosy. He only had to believe and do what the prophet of God told him. And you don’t have to pay anything or do any work or special deeds to be washed clean from your sins. All you have to do is truly believe in your heart that Jesus died for you, taking the punishment for your sins. Tell Him that you are sorry for your sins and you want Him to wash them all away in His blood. Jesus won’t make you wait. He’ll wash every single sin of yours away immediately, and you’ll know they are gone! You can do that right now!
You may read this story with its happy ending in 2 Kings 5:1-171Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valor, but he was a leper. 2And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman's wife. 3And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy. 4And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel. 5And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment. 6And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. 7And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me. 8And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. 9So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. 10And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. 11But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. 12Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. 13And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? 14Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. 15And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant. 16But he said, As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused. 17And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules' burden of earth? for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the Lord. (2 Kings 5:1‑17).
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