Today’s author is Prince of Peace member Gary Olson.
Please read 2Kings 5:1-15
Often God comes to us in people we do not expect and in unlikely ways. This happened to Naaman. He was a great military general, a warrior of Aram (modern day Syria). He was the enemy of Israel, going on military raids in Israel from time to time, devastating the countryside. He was a great general but a miserable man because he had some kind of terrible skin disease. We don’t know if it caused him pain but, evidently it caused him discomfort and embarrassment.
Then comes one of God’s unusual acts. God speaks to Naaman’s wife through her slave—who had been captured by Naaman. The slave girl says, “If only my lord were with the prophet in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” This help from a girl who had every reason to hate Naaman. Through her God spoke.
Then later God does the unexpected again. After Naaman had gotten angry and refused to wash seven times in the Jordan River as Elisha told him to do, a second slave said, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash and be clean’?”
Two slaves and a muddy river—that’s how God spoke to Naaman. That’s how God put him on the path to becoming whole, healed.
On your path to becoming whole, how do you notice God speaking to you? What makes you aware of God’s loving presence?
A year ago, when I was in a funk, having a moody bad time, I was at our son’s house. Our granddaughter and great-granddaughter were there. Two-year-old Jazlyn sat on the floor near me, sitting on the couch, and indicated that I should get on the floor. I did. Then she started to crawl. So, I got on my hands and knees and crawled after her. I said, “Where are we going?” She sat up and smiled at me. I got it! We were already where she wanted me to be, in her world. She had invited me into her world. I was glad, my mood lifted. It was God speaking through that little girl—“See the joy of life!”
How do you notice God speaking to you?
God uses unexpected, ordinary ways to make us whole. Like Holy Communion. Who would expect God to be present with us in bread and wine? But that’s what God promises. That’s God, present in unexpected and least like ways and people to encourage us on our paths of becoming whole. Thanks be to God!