(August 5, 2014)
Having
fought my wars with sin in the past, and being finally in a position where I am
not regularly losing those battles, I believe I have a bit of a different
approach to the story of Naaman than some others. Naaman, when he receives the command to bath in
the River Jordan, states that there are better rivers in Syria that he could wash in. But it is ultimately when he bathes in the
River Jordan
that he is healed.
Understanding
the recurring symbolism of leprosy as sin, there is much to be learned here. In my life, I have faced down a persistent
moral weakness that led me into sin such that it nearly consumed me. I sought out all sorts of methods for
overcoming that sin – from self-help books to willpower to anything else you
can find. Ultimately, none of these
things worked – it was as if I were bathing in the rivers of Syria . The only thing that ultimately won the battle
was turning my life over to the Lord and giving Him control.
Like
bathing in the River Jordan
seven times, there were multiple parts to this. It started with my reading of my scriptures
daily, then progressed to improved prayer. It involved me learning that I could rely on the
Lord in moments of moral crisis, and then choosing to do so. Bit by bit, as I bathed in the symbolic River Jordan
of the Gospel, I recovered from my leprosy until I arrived at the point where I
became healed.
I wish,
for all that I could wish anything, that I hadn’t gone through the struggles
that I went through in dealing with my sins. But at the same time, I wouldn’t have traded
it for the world. Now that I am on the
other side of this problem, I feel compelled to say (as did Naaman) that I know
that there is no God in all the Earth, but in Israel . I know that there is no spiritual change or
growth that I can create in myself, but such growth and change is a gift from the
Lord – a gift that He stands ready to give to us if we are willing to accept it
on His terms.
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