Fifty Two Weeks / 2 Kings 5

“Where have you been, Gehazi?”

The story of Naaman being healed of leprosy is often told, and rightly so for it contains great lessons. However, for me Naaman’s story is just the prelude to the real kicker: the story of Gehazi.

First Naaman

Naaman was the commander of the armies of Aram which roughly corresponds with present day Syria. Aram/Syria and Israel are some of the most ancient enemy nations on the face of the earth. 

A young Israelite girl was captured and became a servant in Naaman’s house. This certainly seemed like a bad thing for her but God’s hand was in it. She told Naaman’s wife that there was a prophet in Samaria (the Capital of Israel) who could cure Naaman’s leprosy. 

The king of Aram sends Naaman to the king of Israel with a letter. The image of Israel’s king reading this letter is one of those moments that always brings a smile to my face. Israel’s kings almost uniformly failed to follow the Lord, so I can imagine the Lord also getting a smile at the king’s distress when he reads that Naaman is there to be cured of his leprosy.

Elisha heard about the letter and sends for Naaman to be brought to him. Naaman is told to go and wash seven times in the Jordan and be healed. Naaman’s pride is hurt. He went to the healing crusade and not only did he not get on camera, but the prophet didn’t even touch him or see him. 

As is virtually always the case the servants have better insight than the vain ruler and they convince Naaman to at least give Elisha’s instructions a try. Naaman obeys and is healed. To his credit he doesn’t act as if he deserved this at all. Instead, he returns with thankfulness to Elisha. (Who wouldn’t? Well, there was a case of ten lepers whom Jesus healed and only one, a foreigner, returned to give thanks.)

Elisha refuses to take any of the money or goods Naaman offers with the result that Naaman vows to worship the Lord from then on. If the story ended there we could close with “happily ever after”. But it doesn’t end there.

Gehazi

Gehazi wasn’t a bad guy. He was Elisha’s personal servant and might well have been next in line to ask for the anointing just as Elisha had done with Elijah. Two things got in his way and disqualified him.

“My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean.”

We live in a very xenophobic time in our culture. Xenophobia is an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers. Unfortunately, such times are far more common than not. Politicians and leaders have for centuries fanned the flames of xenophobia to maintain support from and control over their people. 

God, on the other hand, does not look at anyone as a “foreigner”. He knew that we would have this tendency so He gave very clear instructions to Israel (and through them to us as well) to treat the alien and stranger with kindness. This breaks the grip of unreasonable fear and prevents us from doing some stupid stuff.

Gehazi’s disregard for “this Aramean” caused him to do some stupid stuff.

“I will run after him and get something from him.”

This is tragic all the way around. Gehazi claimed to be asking in the name of Elisha which reflected not only on the prophet but surely on the Lord as well. The perfect glow with which Naaman and his entourage departed was now irreparably marred. 

Moreover, Gehazi really didn’t get all that much. Naaman had brought 750 pounds of silver and 150 pounds of gold in addition to ten sets of clothes. Gehazi, for all of his trouble, got 150 pounds of silver and two sets of clothes. (He would have only gotten 75 pounds of silver but for “this Aramean’s” generosity.)

When Gehazi returned to stand in Elisha’s presence one of those moments occurred. Put yourself in Gehazi’s place for a few minutes of awkward silence and then hear Elisha ask, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” A last chance to repent? We’ll never know, because Gehazi lied. 

It was only two talents of silver and two sets of clothes. Beware! The gifts of God are never for sale.

Fifty Two Weeks / 1 Samuel 26

This is why David was great. 

David had done nothing against saul. In fact, David had been a great blessing to Saul, but because David was so successful Saul’s envy and paranoia caused him to try to murder David and forced David to flee for his life. At this stage David had been gone for quite some time and in spite of his following had suffered much as a homeless refugee. 

Once before Saul had been delivered into David’s hands. David and his men were hidden in a cave when Saul entered the cave alone. David’s men urged him to kill Saul then and there but David refused. He did cut off a piece of Saul’s robe which he later presented to Saul as evidence that he could have killed him, and while Saul was remorseful for a brief while David knew it would be short lived and wisely fled. 

This time was different. Once again Saul was coming after David to kill him for no good reason. This time it was clearly the Lord who delivered SAul to David. This wasn’t just Saul wandering into the wrong cave. The Lord placed Saul and his men into a deep sleep. 

There’s more. David’s cousin Abishai bravely volunteered to go down to Saul’s camp with David. When they arrived and saw the situation Abishai knew that he could not persuade David to kill Saul so he offered to do the deed himself! David would not even have to strike Saul himself.

This is why David was great.

1. The Lord could trust David to do the right thing even when it would have been so much easier to do the wrong thing. David could even have claimed that it was “the Lord’s will”. But the quality of David was such that he would never do the wrong thing and point a finger at God.

1. David understood that a leader is responsible for his followers. Obviously even a great leader cannot control everything those under the do; however, those things they can control they are responsible for. David could not look the other way while Abishai killed Saul and claim no fault. Moreover, even if David had been able to claim no personal guilt he cared too much for this fine companion to allow Abishai to bring such guilt upon himself. This is a real leader.

1. God could trust David to be merciful. Later in his life David would do some bad things. Adultery and murder are pretty big sins. This wasn’t David’s MO but it was a substantial lapse. Yet, David seems to have gotten off pretty lightly. He is still considered to be one of the greatest men of history. Why? Jesus explained it in Matthew 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.”

This is why David was great.

Fifty Two Weeks / 1 Samuel 16

“How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel?” 

When God asks a question you can be sure of two things: the question is always powerful and it is never because God is lacking in information.

God’s questions are usually designed to enlighten us. In this case God is enlightening Samuel to the fact that he was mourning for something that God had rejected. (Yes, I know that Saul was a “someone”, not a “something”, but Saul being king was a something.) When God closes a door or rejects something He will allow us a time to grieve if that is necessary but we are not to camp there. He surely has something better and we must move on.

“The Lord does not look at the things human beings look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

David’s brothers were obviously quite impressive outwardly. Big deal! 

This is a reoccurring theme in Scripture. Jacob was the youngest but was chosen over his older brother Esau. Ephraim was younger than Manasseh.  David was thought of so little that he wasn’t even brought before Samuel until God forced the matter. Isaiah said of Messiah, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” 

Therefore, it is no surprise that Paul wrote to the church at Corinth and said, “Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.”

The Spirit of the Lord

If David was so unimpressive then how did he do such great things and become such a renowned figure? That’s easy. “From that day on the Spirit of the Lord came on David in power.”

It is all about the Spirit of the Lord. David was one of those rare individuals under the Old Covenant upon whom the Spirit of the Lord rested. The good news is that under the New Covenant the Spirit has been poured out and He is available to rest upon all believers. Think about it! This is the same advantage Moses and David had and it is available to all! The fullness of the Spirit is for sons and daughters, Jews and Gentiles, those who are far off, for everyone whom the Lord calls.

Now What?

I love it. Samuel clearly has anointed David. The Spirit has come upon David in power. Let’s get going! Right? Wrong. Let’s go back and continue to take care of the flock. And then, after a suitable time, let’s go work for Saul as his servant. 

God is so not like us. His ways are beautiful and perfect. This part of the story is an example of the great promise found in 1 Peter 5:6, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”

Fifty Two Weeks / 1 Samuel 15

What a fascinating chapter!

The Softball

In this chapter Saul is assigned the task of committing genocide against the  Amalekites for the wrongs they did against Israel when Israel came out of Egypt. Obviously there is much that could be said about this alone but that’s not where I’m going so let’s just leave it as the backdrop it is to the rest of the story.

This is not a hard assignment for Saul. Apparently the Amalikites were no match for Israel. These were the early days of Saul’s kingship and this was sort of like being thrown a softball to hit out of the park. Saul hits it out of the park, but it’s more like a foul ball than a Home Run. He doesn’t completely follow the Lord’s instructions. He kills all but Agag the king and the best of the flocks and herds.

Here is where it gets real interesting. The Lord “regrets” making Saul king and Samuel gets angry. 

The Lord Regrets

What does it mean to say that the Lord “regrets” making Saul king? This is reminiscent of God telling Noah that He regretted making man. The Lord is perfect in all of His ways. He knows the end from the beginning. How can He “regret” something? Honestly, I don’t know. However, the word used here (nâcham) literally means “to sigh or breathe strongly” and by implication “to be sorry or regret”. 

As a parent there are times when you know your child is making a mistake, you can see the consequences coming, and when they finally do come all you can do is sigh. Saul was made king because the people demanded a king and Saul was the best they had. When God made man and gave us free will He likely knew the flood would be necessary, along with a great many other unpleasant things, but apparently the good sufficiently out weighed the bad. The one thing I know this does not mean is that the Lord thought, “Oops!”

Samuel is Angry

Why was Samuel angry? I don’t know, but it sure would be an interesting thing to find out.

Was he angry with Saul for disobeying the Lord?

Was he angry with the Lord? Samuel was against the idea of a king from the start but the Lord told him to give the people a king. Furthermore, the Lord told him that Saul was the one to anoint as king. Furthermore, while Saul had technically disobeyed the Lord there can be little doubt that this engagement with the Amalikites was a public relations triumph. Saul’s poll number were likely tracking at their highest ever. 

Now Samuel has to go and tell Saul that he can’t be king. (Actually, Saul gets to continue as king but he will have no dynasty.) The man the Lord choose, and had Samuel announce, now at the height of his popularity, and Samuel is going to get the be the one with egg on his face. Maybe he was mad at the Lord?

A Leadership Lesson

Why did Saul blow it? There is no mystery here. Saul tells us with his own words. “I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them.”

Saul’s besetting flaw (sin) was fear. 

Earlier, when he was faced by the Philistines and stepped over the line by not waiting for Samuel and offering the sacrifice himself, it was because he was afraid of the enemy. Later, when he saw how popular and successful David had become, he would turn on David (his greatest general and defender) because he feared God’s favor on David. Here he is afraid of his own people. 

All three fears led to his total downfall. These fears are still debilitating to anyone who would be a leader. Fear of the enemy one can understand, though you can’t lead for long with such fear. Fear of a successful associate is sad indeed and the mark of a weak leader. Fear of your people makes you merely a politician. 

Fifty Two Weeks / Judges 7

Bad Can Be Good

My dad used to say, “What this country needs is a good depression.” I can’t say that I was ever in agreement with that statement, but I understood what he meant, and since he lived through the Great Depression (he and mom married in 1936) I always thought he had the right to say it. 

What he meant, of course, was that when trouble comes people tend to turn to the Lord, or at least come to realize that what they have been doing isn’t working. This was the case in Gideon’s day.

The Prophet’s Words

The Lord sent a prophet. The prophet is unnamed but his words are recorded. 

“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land. I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.”

There is no “bibidi babidi boo” and no “this is what is going to happen.” There is simply the word of the Lord reminding the listeners of what God has done and what they are doing.

“The Lord is with you mighty man?”

When the Lord comes to Gideon He addresses him with these extraordinary words. In the first place Gideon is hiding in order to thresh his wheat. That does not seem to qualify him as a mighty man. In the second place, we might well have the same question as Gideon. If the Lord is with me (us) then why…?

In this case the answer is a combination of what the prophet said and what my dad said. “You’ve turned from the Lord and this stuff is happening to get your attention turned back to Him.” That isn’t always the case. Sometimes we go through things for the benefit of someone else. (i.e.; a hospital stay results in a nurse or doctor coming to the Lord.) The point is that we can’t merely look at circumstances and determine if the Lord is with us.

What about this “mighty man” business? Gideon certainly isn’t acting like a mighty man. That is part of the wonderful grace and mystery of the Lord. His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. He sees things differently from how we see them. This has always been the case. 

We see the story of Gideon echoed in Paul’s word to the church at Corinth. (1 Cor. 1:26-29) “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.”

The Prayer of the Fleece 

Gideon’s prayer concerning the fleece has worked it’s way into the nomenclature of modern North American Christianity. “I wasn’t sure if this was God or not so I put a fleece before the Lord.” 

A word of caution here. 

To the best of my knowledge this is the only time in scripture when a person requested (seemingly unprompted by the Lord) that the Lord show a sign to prove the veracity of His instructions. This tells me that it can and does happen, but not very often.

In my own life there have been a couple of occasions where I have found myself “placing a fleece” before the Lord, but they were based on prayers that I almost immediately recognized as not originating solely in me. They were clearly prayers prompted by the Holy Spirit. They were prayers I almost wished I hadn’t prayed until I realized where they actually came from and said, “Well, OK, it’s out there now.” 

If we go around making a habit of coming up with our own “fleece” to put before God we should remember two things. One, testing God is not generally regarded as a pleasing or wise venture. Two, there is usually more than one supernatural power listening.

Fifty Two Weeks / Joshua 2

Rahab is cited in both Hebrews and James as an example of one who had faith, an example to be followed. She was a woman. She was not a Jew. She was a prostitute. I love it when God confounds conventional wisdom, especially religious wisdom!

Exodus through Deuteronomy is filled will situations where “God’s people” doubted God. They saw Him do great things on their behalf, but it only took a short while for their faith to leak out. Nevertheless, He still claimed them and they were still His people. 

In this chapter we see Rahab. She did not grow up hearing her parents tell of God’s great deliverances and provisions. She did not eat the manna in the wilderness or hear the words of Moses. She did hear about these things, but likely third or fourth hand. Surely she knew that by the time a great story has passed through several retelling it has likely been enhanced. Perhaps, but there was something about these stories, about this God, that resonated in Rahab’s heart and produced faith.

“We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.”

Wow! What a statement. “We have heard…” Everyone in Jericho had heard but Rahab was different in that she heard and believed. She not only believed the stories she embraced the logical conclusion: “for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.”

Salvation has always been by faith. Abraham was declared righteous because of what he believed. Rahab and her family were delivered because of what she believed. And we are saved by what we believe. 

Fifty Two Chapters / Numbers 20

This chapter starts with the death of Moses’ sister Miriam and ends with the death of his brother Aaron. Both of these events are personal tragedies for Moses but they are not at all the worst things to happen for him in this chapter. Both Miriam and Aaron were honored and both died well with the Lord. Death is by no means always a terrible thing. No, the really terrible thing that happened to Moses involved a great miracle he performed.

After almost forty years of wandering in the wilderness Israel was now very close to their destination. As is often the case it as at this point in the journey where discouragement set in. They began to complain bitterly about their lot and especially about the lack of drinking water. 

Moses and Aaron took this to the Lord and the Lord gave them simple clear instructions designed to solve the problem. Take the staff from the Lord’s presence. Gather the people. Speak to the rock. Water will come forth for all to drink.

Sometimes three out of four isn’t bad, but this was not one of those times. Moses took the staff. Moses gathered the people. Moses struck the rock. Moses struck the rock. Water came forth for all to drink.The Lord was displeased with Moses and Aaron because they had not treated Him as holy in front of the people. In fact, because of this both Moses and Aaron were not allowed to lead the people into Canaan. 

Some explanation is in order. This is not the first time Moses brought water from the rock for the people. In Exodus 17 a similar situation happened near the start of Israel’s journey. On that occasion the Lord told Moses to strike the rock and water would come forth. He did and it did. Now, near the end of the journey we see the same rock again. (While it is unlikely that it was literally the same there can be no doubt that poetically it was certainly the same.)

One more thing about this rock; 1 Corinthians 10:4 tells us that this Rock was Christ. Of course it wasn’t literally the person of Jesus Christ but it was clearly a type of Christ who invites all to come and drink freely from the life giving water that He alone can give. This rock shows up twice, just as Christ has come once and will come again. The first time the rock is to be struck. Likewise, at His first coming Christ was struck and nailed to a tree. The second time the rock was not to be struck because on His second coming the Christ will come to rule and reign, not to be struck. It is a beautiful and clear picture, or was until Moses disobeyed.

My father was an ordained pastor for over fifty years. He was a good man thought he was actually quite patient he would occasionally give voice to a bit of rashness. He was occasionally known to say, “I just want to pinch their little heads off.” Therefore, I can totally understand Moses having a “pinch their little heads off” moment as he yelled at these “rebels”. Ah, but rashness and frustration can often lead to a bit of grandstanding. “Do I have to strike this rock and bring water forth for you?” Whack!

I love the Bible’s marvelous economy of words. “Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff.” Twice, is it? How I would love to see Moses’ face between the first and second strike. (I truly hope their is a highlight reel in heaven.) What did his face register? Fear? Bewilderment? The ultimate “oops”? 

Here’s what I love about our God. “Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.” God’s man messed up and a magnificent picture of prophetic truth was marred, but God still provided for the people. As a pastor I realize how often I was so unworthy to stand before God’s people and bring God’s Word; yet, He loves them enough that it is not about me and my worthiness. It is about His Love - the same love that provided water from the rock provides life through the Son.