Is It Time To Receive?

Part One – Drop the Shovel: Guard the Heart

Opening Illustration – The Grand Canyon Shovel

Some years ago I traveled to the Grand Canyon with my young son.

We stood on the rim looking out over that breathtaking, mile-wide chasm.

He tugged at my sleeve and asked,

“Daddy, how did it form?”

I smiled and said, “One shovel at a time, son.”

It wasn’t a geology lecture, but it was spiritually true.

Most moral and spiritual disasters don’t erupt overnight; they form one quiet scoop at a time.

No story makes that clearer than the fall of Gehazi, the servant of the prophet Elisha.

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Watching Eyes

In those days the schools of the prophets—training centers for the next generation of spiritual leaders—were watching Elisha closely.

They studied his prayer life, his courage before kings, even his ordinary routines.

They also knew he had what we might jokingly call a Rogaine problem—that episode when mockers ridiculed his bald head (2 Kings 2:23–25).

Nothing about Elisha escaped their attention.

And always at his side was Gehazi.

Among all those prophetic interns, he was the valedictorian—the one everyone expected to inherit Elisha’s mantle.

If the schools of the prophets had printed a yearbook, his picture might have carried the caption:

“Most Likely to Move Mountains.”

Front-row seat to miracles, trusted with the staff of life and death, carrying messages straight from Elisha’s lips—he was the model student and heir apparent.

That makes what follows all the more sobering.

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The Naaman Backdrop – God’s Free Gift on Display

Then came Naaman, commander of the Aramean army—Israel’s enemy.

Powerful and wealthy, but desperate with leprosy, he arrived with chariots and gifts expecting a grand healing ceremony.

Instead Elisha didn’t even come out.

He sent word:

> “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” (v. 10)

Naaman bristled.

> “Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?

Could I not wash in them and be clean?” (v. 12)

The Jordan was muddy.

Seven dips sounded like hocus-pocus to a battle-hardened general.

He turned away in anger—until his servants quietly urged him to try.

Reluctantly he stepped into the river.

Once…twice…three times—still nothing.

Four…five…six—doubt pounding with each plunge.

Then the seventh time, he rose with skin like a child’s and a heart surrendered to Israel’s God.

Naaman offered lavish gifts—silver, gold, and fine clothes—but Elisha refused every coin to proclaim that God’s mercy is free.

Grace cannot be purchased, bargained, or billed.

Gehazi watched all of it.

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Drop the Shovel – Guard the Heart

Yet while Elisha proclaimed free grace, Gehazi’s heart turned in another direction:

> “As the LORD lives, I will run after him and take something from him.” (v. 20)

That single thought was the sound of a shovel striking the soil for the first scoop.

Every spiritual sinkhole starts this way—quietly, in the unseen chambers of the heart.

James warns,

> “Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desire and enticed.

Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” (James 1:14–15)

Gehazi’s inner craving wasn’t only greed; it distorted the very message of grace his master had just preached.

The decision to “take something” contradicted everything God had revealed in Naaman’s healing.

It is the first step that is difficult. After the first wrong step, the downward road is easy.

The second and third are easier than the first.

Every repetition of sin lessens the power of conscience and weakens the will.

The first hidden scoop—one private, covetous thought—was all it took to set the whole collapse in motion.

Application for us:

Drop the shovel. Refuse the first scoop of hidden desire.

Guard the heart. Pray Psalm 139:23–24—“Search me, O God, and know my heart.”

Practice gratitude. Contentment (Philippians 4:11) seals the cracks where covetousness starts.

Before a canyon of regret forms, stop the dig while the ground is still soft.

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Part Two – From Desire to Action

Remember Gehazi’s quiet resolve in verse 20:

> “As the LORD lives, I will run after him and take something from him.”

Desire rarely stays parked.

Once it starts moving, it carries the body and the tongue with it.

Picture the scene:

the dust of Naaman’s chariot still hanging in the air, Gehazi glancing to be sure Elisha is inside.

Then he slips onto the road and runs hard.

Naaman sees the figure closing fast.

He reins in the horses and climbs down—warrior to servant, face to face.

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Digging the Hole – The First Lie

Naaman calls out, “Is everything all right?”

“All is well,” Gehazi answers—smooth, confident.

Then comes the spade striking dirt: