Shade Tree Wisdom- the Best 7/20/07

Hidden away in the Book of 2nd Kings is a story that seems to fit the Convention that just ended in Houston last Thursday. I Say “hidden” not because it is, but because Bible readers seldom go there.

Anyway, it is the story of the Commander of the Syrian army in the ancient world. He was a Leper. An incurable disease. And he was desperate for healing. Maybe that’s why he listened when a serving maid in his kitchen, a girl from Israel who had been snatched from her home by a Syrian raiding party, told her mistress if only the Boss would see a prophet in her native land, he could be healed.

A bit of idle chatter to be ignored, or not. The message came to the Commander’s ears, and he decided to go to Israel and be healed. So his king wrote a letter to the king of Israel introducing Naaman and asking for healing. The letter actually said, “I’m sending this man to you to be healed”. Well, the king of Israel just about had a fit. He worried that he “was trying to pick a quarrel with me because I am not God”.

Elisha, the prophet in question, sent a message telling to king to send the sick man out “and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel”.

So when Naaman arrived, Elisha simply sent a message out to tell him to bathe seven times in the Jordan, and he would he healed. It was not the sort of thing he expected. No numbo-jumbo, no waving of hands, no magic potion, just a simple message, and not even delivered personally. So he turned away and snarled, “I didn’t come 700 miles for this. The rivers at home are cleaner than this Jordan.” Probably stamped his foot and threw a tantrum.

But his servants did ask him to wash himself. “You’ve come this far. Why not try it, it can’t hurt”. So he did, and was healed.

And that’s the lesson. Simple, yet profound. For it speaks directly to this Convention. Its theme was “One Message – Christ.” Every Bible study, every devotion, every service, was about this “I resolved to know nothing with you but Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” 1 Cor. 2,3.

That is what drove St. Paul, and that is why he was so bewildered when they “acted just like ordinary men” 3,3. He reminded them that they had the Spirit of Christ in them. He reminded them they were “lights and salt” in this world, and here they were, acting “like ordinary men”.

That’s just it. A Convention like the one just ended, with all its high-sounding resolves and determinations, means nothing unless we do what the Father said at Jesus’ Transfiguration, “This is My Beloved Son. Listen to Him.”

That is what does the work that Jesus commanded when he said for us to “go ye into all the world”. And remember, God does bless the Word. This Convention heard many stories of people around the word whom the Lord blessed because they “listened to Him” and spoke the Word about Jesus. May God continue to bless us in this work.

GPD 7/20/07