Wednesday, August 6, 2014

2 Kings 5

(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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