Some Great Thing

Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” So, he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. (2 Kings 5:13-14, NIV 1984).

My Musings – Elisha, who succeeded Elijah as prophet, was just as prolific in the number of miracles he performed. This included multiplying food and raising a child from the dead. On this occasion, Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, had leprosy. At the urging of a servant of his wife, he went to Elisha for healing.

Naaman was not pleased with Elisha’s response. “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored, and you will be cleansed.” (2 Kings 5:10, NIV 1984). He left in anger saying, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” (2 Kings 5:11-12, NIV 1984).

Nevertheless, Naaman ultimately followed his servants’ advice, did what Elisha had instructed and was miraculously healed. “Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God [Elisha]. He stood before him and said, ‘Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel.'” (2 Kings 5:15, NIV 1984). The fame of the Lord was probably well-known hearsay in Aram. But the commander of the King’s army had a personal encounter and then he knew for himself.

My Advice – It is easy to envision ourselves doing “some great thing” for God. Probably not on the scale of Elijah or Elisha, but it isn’t always “some great thing” that we are asked to do. “For I [Jesus] was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes, and you clothed me, I was sick, and you looked after me, I was in prison, and you came to visit me. I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:35-36, 40, NIV 1984).

Never think that any act of service is too trivial to be of consequence, or so menial that it is beneath you. “If the [Lord] had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it?” What you do (or don’t do) will not go unnoticed, no matter how small. For, “whatever you [do] not do for one of the least of these, you [do] not do for me.” (Matthew 25:45, NIV 1984).