What is God Doing? 2 Kings 5

The incident is this: A dude named Naaman is the general of the Aramean army.  He's the right hand man to the King.  The only thing is, he's afflicted with a skin condition that's both uncomfortable and embarrassing.  Naaman is a great warrior.  He's also responsible for the death of the father of the king of Israel (Jehoram)

So, when Naaman shows up on Jehoram's doorstep with a letter from the Aramean King saying, "I heard your God can heal my #1 general," Jehoram is understandably upset, thinking this is a set up.

Now, as Paul Harvey says, is the rest of the story.  Naaman journeyed to Israel because his wife had an Israelite woman as a servant.  This young woman, who is never named, says that her God can heal Naaman of his condition.  I'm sure Naaman's wife was excited about that!  The faith this nameless young woman shows is amazing.  She doesn't apologize for worshiping the God of Israel, she doesn't justify her claims or put strings on them, she simply says, "I know what my God can do."

This leads Naaman to his confrontation with Jehoram.  Things are tense, but Elisha the prophet is walking by and he says, "Take seven baths in the Jordan river, and you'll be healed.  More than that, you'll also know that God is at work here and I'm God's prophet." 

Naaman balks at the idea.  Why?  Because:
1) Everyone knows foreign rivers aren't as good as rivers back home
2) Seriously?  All it takes is 7 baths in a row?  Too easy.  Where's the epic quest.  Shouldn't he be assigned a hobbit or something and have to toss a ring into a volcano?
3) Naaman is kind of a big deal.  Elisha should recognize it.  His cure, likewise should be a big deal.

Naaman ends up doing it.  God ends up cleansing him.  God ends up glorified.  Elisha gets credit.  King Jehoram still looks a little paranoid.  The unnammed servant girl continues to serve. 

So what have we learned?  The lesson, I believe, is not to think too highly of ourselves, or too highly of how we think God should act.  The anonymous young woman provides a prime example of faith in God.  Naaman didn't get it.  Elisha didn't get it.  King Jehoram didn't get it.  But she did.  Whatever else may be said about her, her faith was confident.

Praying together.

At our last meeting, I challenged the Session to participate in the following:
1) Pray daily for our congregation at 8 a.m.
2) Study the Bible at least weekly

This past Sunday, I challenged the congregation to do the same.

The reason for these challenges?  Because the leadership of Northside should be growing in our own faith, and we should be setting an example for the rest of the congregation to emulate. 

PRAYER
8:00 is not a special time, it's just a time when I figured most everyone would be awake and ready to pray.  It doesn't need to be a long or elaborate prayer, it just needs to be a prayer.  James, the brother of Jesus, reminds us that 'The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." (Jas 5:16).  Since we have all been made righteous through Jesus Christ, our prayers are both powerful and effective.  Praying together, even if we are not in the same place, is then a corporate act of worship that has a powerful effect upon us as a church trying to bring the hope of Jesus Christ into our world.

Prayer both petitions God and shapes the one who prays.  It's a formational experience.  We already know that God desires to make God's love and grace known among all people.  Praying that God would use our church to do that in our city makes us participants in what God is doing here.  It takes us out of our normal routine, just for a minute, and allows us to glimpse the ministry God is going to do through our church. 

So pray with me each morning.  Pray with your session.  Pray with your church.  And may all our prayers be the same:  God, do amazing things in and through Northside Presbyterian Church.  Make your love and grace known more and more.  Amen.

King Ahab

I can safely say that our text from 1 Kings 21 this week is not one of my favorites.  Actually, it reads a bit like the script for a Sopranos episode.  Except here Tony is played by King Ahab, Jezebel is Sil, Naboth is the poor schmuck who ends up whacked, the two witnesses are Paulie Walnuts and Christopher, and Elijah is Carmella. 

Silvio Dante is Tony's right hand man.  He's usually the voice or reason, and he's also the guy who does what needs to be done to make Tony happy.  Paulie and Christopher are there as Tony's goons, making sure the blame gets put right where it needs to be and ready with muscle just in case something goes awry.

I figured Carmella would be good for the role of Elijah because she was always on Tony's case.  On more than one occasion she told him, in all seriousness, that he was going to hell for the things he did.  That's the same message Elijah gives to Ahab in this account.  "You may have gotten away with this cold-blooded killing today, but you will have to answer for it." 

Why put the Sopranos in this little biblical drama?  Because it proves the point that evil stuff like this is not too far removed from our own day and age.  Still can't picture it happening?  What about Tonya Craft right in our own back yard of Ringgold, GA?  Vindictive accusations made against her, ruining her life, her family, her reputation, and her profession.  You want it on a slightly smaller scale?  Walk down the halls of one of our local high schools--yeah, even the prestigious private ones.

So what do we make of this?  Are we just supposed to say, "Bad things happen, good people get screwed, and that's the end of it?"  Should we just sit back knowing they'll get it in the end?  Or is this a warning about greed, and covetousness as well as a call to repentance for our participation in evil.  I'd be naive, if not outright stupid, to believe that we all didn't have thoughts along these lines every now and then.  Is it time to step back, look in the mirror, and be challenged to live differently?