And He Was Healed!

March 25, 2019

And He Was Healed!

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the account of Naaman’s healing in 2 Kings 5. Naaman, the mighty general of the king of Aram, suffered with leprosy and was sent to Elisha, the prophet of Israel for healing. Naaman followed Elisha’s instructions to wash seven times in the Jordan River and his “skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child’s, and he was healed!” (2 Kings 5:14). The story is multifaceted with multiple treasures to be gleaned, but I want to focus on just one small detail.  A young girl had been taken captive from Israel and given to Naaman’s wife as a maid. This servant girl triggered the events that led to Naaman’s healing when she told Naaman’s wife, “I wish my master would go to see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal him of his leprosy” (2 Kings 5:3). This simple statement is itself multifaceted as it models the life of a disciple. At its core, her statement is an affirmation that Naaman was included within the grace of the mighty God of Israel. For the possibility that he would be accepted by the LORD of Israel, Naaman risked crossing the border into Israel in pursuit of his healing.

This unnamed servant girl models for us the greatest gift of healing we can offer to our family, friends and neighbors. God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth loves and accepts us, just as we are, not as we should be. Not just once, but every day of our lives, the Almighty seeks to be in union with us, just as we are, not as we should be. I believe when we are truly honest with ourselves, when we truly know ourselves, we will never stop rejoicing anew each and every day in celebration of our acceptance by God. How can we ever get over how wide, how long, how high, and how deep is the love of Christ for us? This is the gift, the healing we can offer others. Let that sink in. We get to participate with God in showing other people the marvelous grace and love of God that comes to us just as we are, not as we should be.

My Takeaway: Do you know of a person, who from all outward appearances is not, according to conventional wisdom, the person they should be? Do you believe that God loves this person just as they are? Do you believe that God loves them with the very same love and tenderness He has for Christ Jesus our Savior? Will you share this glorious truth with them? 

Sē’lah

Alex

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.