Naaman

[00:00:00] Foreign Chuck Allen here with another weekday podcast, and thanks so much for listening in today. Today we're diving into the story of a guy by the name of Naaman. [00:00:13] It's a story about not letting your circumstances define you and making you become an underdog, or believe you are. And it's about the wild, sometimes uncomfortable ways that God invites us to. To trust him. So let me set the scene. Naaman is a commander. He's got medals, he's got victories, he's got respect. He's a guy who walks into a room and people notice. The problem is Naaman's got leprosy. Not just a skin condition. It's a social sentence. Did you get that? It's a social sentence. A slow unraveling of everything he's built. He's powerful, yet he's powerless. He's strong, but he's suffering. Now, here's where it gets interesting. Naaman could have played the victim. He could have remained an underdog. He could have said, this is just my lot. I'm doomed. Woe is me. But God's story is never about resignation. It's about possibility. [00:01:08] In Naaman's house, there's a young girl. She's a captive from Israel. She's lost her home, she's lost her freedom, but she hasn't lost her faith. Let that sink in for a minute. [00:01:19] She tells Naaman's wife, if only my master Naaman would go to the prophet in Samaria, he would heal him of his leprosy. [00:01:27] Out of the mouth of a powerless servant girl comes this incredible word of hope. So Naaman goes. He goes to Israel loaded with gifts, letters, expectations. He's ready to put on, you know, the dog and pony show for a prophet to come out, wave his hands, call down, fire. But Elisha doesn't even come to the door. [00:01:46] He sends his messenger, who says, go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored and you'll be healed. Naaman being a big deal, he's ticked off. This isn't what healing is supposed to look like. I mean, the rivers back home are cleaner. They're better. Not this muddy Jordan River. Why this humiliating process? Why not a miracle worthy of a general? [00:02:10] But here's the deal, y' all. [00:02:12] God's healing isn't about spectacle. It's about trust. It's about surrender. Naaman's servants, those voices of reason, say, you know, if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, wouldn't you have done it? So why not do this? Simple thing. And here's the pivot. Naaman chooses not to be a victim or an underdog of his pride, of his expectations, of his disease. He chooses to trust. He walks down to river the dips himself seven times. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. [00:02:43] And his skin is like a baby. It's totally restored, like the flesh of a little child. Naaman could have stayed angry. He could have stayed a victim, he could have stayed an underdog. He could have just walked away. But he doesn't. He listens, he obeys, he trusts. And he's healed, not just in body, but in soul. He returns to Elisha saying, now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. [00:03:10] Let's pause for a minute. [00:03:12] How often do we want God to fix things our way? How often do we let our wounds, our disappointments, our pride make us victims of our own stories? Naaman's healing is a reminder to me, to you, to us. Today, trust isn't about understanding. It's about stepping into the river, even when it makes no stinking sense. It's about letting God write a new ending for us. [00:03:38] So today, where are you tempted to play the victim and the underdog? Where's God inviting you to trust, to step into the water, to believe that healing, real, deep, inside out healing is truly possible. [00:03:50] Because the story of Naaman is the story of a man who refused to let his suffering have the last word. It's the story of a God who loves him, who meets him in his weakness just as like he does us and asks us to trust as Naaman did, and brings new life out of old wounds. Grace and peace, my friends, thanks so much for joining me on today's weekday podcast. I'll see you back soon. Bye now.