03/10/2021
Patience Day 31
Scripture
2 Kings 5:10-12 (AMP)
10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.
11 But Naaman was angry and went away and said, Behold, I thought he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and heal the l***r.
12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the 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.
Action
Greet a person that normally irritates you and tell them how much God loves them.
Message
Read 2 Kings 5
This is the last reading for the month on patience, but certainly an interesting one. Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army and highly successful in action, has leprosy. Vs 2 tells us 2 The Syrians had gone out in bands and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid, and she waited on Naamans wife. This little maid tells Naamans wife that there was a prophet in Israel that could help him and so Naaman goes to Elisha and Elisha doesn’t even come out to see him, but sends a messenger to tell Naaman to dip 7 times in the water of the River Jordan. From what we understand, the Jordon is a muddy river. Naaman rejects this idea saying there are better rivers in his country and is angered by this simple action. However, he relents and after his servants speak to him, and is healed.
Sometimes it is simple things that make us angry, or times when we think our ideas are better than others’. It is interesting to note that Jesus referred to Naaman in Luke 4:27 , telling the people in the synagogue that Naaman was the only l***r in the Old Testament to be healed of leprosy. This outraged the people in the synagogue.
There’s a joke that goes like this: a man goes to his pastor and tells him how much he needs more patience and asks that the pastor pray for him in this matter. The pastor agrees and suggests they have prayer right there. As he prays, he prays that this man would have trials come into his life and have many struggles. Right in the middle of the prayer, the man stops his pastor. “That’s not what I asked for.”
Sure it is,” his pastor replied, “the way to patience is through just such trials. Paul himself told us that tribulations work patience.”
if that’s the case,” the man answered, “I’ll be glad to wait a little longer to get it.”
Unfortunately, this is too often very close to the truth and not so much of a joke. Many years ago, a chorus did the rounds: Freedom isn’t free, you have to pay a price, you have to pay a price, you have to sacrifice, for your liberty. When we pray for patience, it’s not a wave of some wand and we have it. Tests and trials come to increase our patience