When Our Faith Fails Part 5
Scripture: 2 Kings 5:1-19;
Introduction:
This morning I will conclude my series titled “When Our Faith Fail”. This morning we will examine the last faith equation which states: Faith + Right Beliefs + Actions = Right Results.” In this equation we find that the full ownership of the right results comes back to each of us and what we believe. This morning we are going to examine a situation about how the right belief led to the ultimate result. As we examine this situation, I want you to consider this question: “Had this been you, would your beliefs have pushed you forward when the first answer was not what you were hoping for or would you have responded just as the character in this story?”
I. Naaman
If you turn to 2 Kings 5:1-19, you will find the story of Naaman. Naaman was the commander of the Syrian army and was believed to be the one who delivered the mortal wound to King Ahab of Israel. Naaman is best known today as the general who had leprosy and visited Elisha to be cured. His spiritual and physical healing came about not because of his faith and belief, but the faith and belief of a young Israelite prisoner and the servants who traveled with him to visit Elisha. Let’s examine this story.
“Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper. And the Syrians had gone out on raids and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman’s wife. Then she said to her mistress, ‘If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.’ And Naaman went in and told his master saying, ‘Thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel.’ Then the king of Syria said, ‘Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.’ So he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. Then he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said, ‘Now be advised, when this letter comes to you, that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy.’ And it happened, when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his clothes and said, ‘Am I god, to kill and make alive, that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy? Therefore please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel with me.”
If we look at this from the beginning we find that Naaman had no clue who Elisha was and he was prepared to live with his leprosy for the rest of his life. What is very interesting is that he was of such importance to the king of Syria that he was allowed to carry out his function even with the leprosy. I am sure many of you have seen movies like “Ben Hur” where during biblical times people with leprosy were placed in separate colonies because of how contagious the leprosy was but this was not the case with Naaman. The bible says that he was a great and honorable man in the eyes of the king and a mighty man of valor. Maybe it was these qualities of Naaman that led the young female Israelite prisoner to express her knowledge that he could be healed if he visited Elisha. When this young lady shared this information with Naaman’s wife, she encouraged him to travel to Samaria to see Elisha. In preparation for his visit, Naaman visited his king for permission and his king sent a letter with Naaman to be delivered to the king of Israel. When Naaman reached Samaria and delivered the letter to the king, the king does not rejoice, but thinks it is a ruse to set him up for a war between him and the Syrian king and he responds accordingly by tearing his clothes in fear and worry.
At this point in the story the young lady was walking in her faith which was based on the belief that Elisha could heal Naaman. Her belief was based on some history that she must have known about Elisha for there was not doubt within her. Naaman took action based on the young lady’s faith and belief as he knew nothing of Elisha. The king of Israel, who should have known of Elisha had no faith at all. As a matter of fact, the king did not expect anything to come out of it except a war. This was the man who should have known Elisha extremely well. This is the man who should have been in counsel with Elisha because Elisha had the word of God. Instead, it appears that the king did not take any notice of Elisha. As a side note I want you to think about who you turn to in a time of crisis. Many people turn to the president. Many turn to other political leaders. The political leaders turn to themselves. What is so amazing is that because Christians are so tied to the world, no one turns to us because they believe that we have the word of God within us. No one comes to us and ask “What is God saying about this situation?” What makes it even worse is that we do not come to one another? When we are in a crisis we often to go an “expert” in the field who may give me advice based on their learned experiences. This must change, but let me get back on track. The king tore his clothes because he believed that the king of Syria was setting him up for a potential battle which he did not believe he could win. Let’s continue on with the story.
“So it was when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king saying, ‘Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.”
Elisha had no doubts whatsoever about what God would do through him. As a matter of fact, he asked the king why he had torn his clothes. Elisha told the king that through this experience Naaman will know that there was a prophet in Israel. This is a key point. Remember, it has been a while since all of the large scale miracles were done when God brought the Israelites out of Egypt. People tended to forget what God had done and therefore forgot Israel’s history and relationship with God. As we read this story, we find that Israel’s own king had forgotten about what God was doing through the prophets. The story does not tell us what the king’s reply was when he got the letter but we know he must have been relieved. If his relationship with Elisha was not good (as it tended to be during this time of Israel’s history when the kings preferred a more “obedient” prophet) then this could possibly solve his problem. If Elisha did not heal Naaman, the king could rest all of the blame on him. I do not think the king’s relationship with Elisha was all that great because the king never thought about Elisha when he was first notified. The king obviously told Naaman what Elisha said so Naaman went to Elisha. When Naaman arrived at Elisha home with all of his horses and chariots, he stood on the outside of the door waiting for Elisha to come out, greet him, and do something special to heal him. This was not done however. Let’s read starting at verse ten.
“And Elisha sent a messenger to him saying, ‘Go and wash in the Jordon seven times and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.’ But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, ‘Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy. Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Demascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.”
Regardless of Naaman’s statue and reputation, he was not greater that Elisha’s God. Elisha was not about to get up and come and bow down to this man. He basically sent word to Naaman for him to go and take a bath in the Jordon river seven times. Now here is what I want you to see. Naaman’s beliefs fueled his anger. In verse eleven Naaman stated what and how he thought his healing would take place. There was a process in his mind as to how God was supposed to heal him. There was supposed to be some fanfare and the waving of arms. There was supposed to be a loud cry to the God above as the healing was requested. Elisha was supposed to come out and at least do something? Because Naaman held this belief internally, he could not see anything else. He could only see what his belief allowed him to see. Do you understand this? What if Naaman had come to Elisha with the attitude that said, “No matter what he does or tells me to do, I will do it!” If this had been his disposition, he would not have responded to Elisha’s request as he did. He would not have had preconceived ideas ad to how his healing was going to take place. He would have been open minded to the possibilities of God. This is where many of us are today. Our beliefs are based on our own ideas of how things should be and we are trying to impress upon God how He should conform to what I believe. The problem is that God does not conform to any of us. He is God and we are the ones who should be conforming. Because Elisha did not do what Naaman’s had thought would happen, Naaman’s became very upset and left.
Notice this though, Naaman was never told that he would not be healed. Did you pick up on this? Elisha just told him to go and bathe seven times in the Jordan river. That is all he had to do and nothing more. His healing was guaranteed if he followed the directions that were given him. Please understand that sometimes we walk out on what God has for us because of our pride which dictates how God is supposed to move on our behalf. Remember Solomon said “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Prov. 16:18) Naaman was an example of this and could have left Samaria and remained a leper for the rest of his life had it not been for some of the others with him who begged for him to do as he was told. Look at verse thirteen.
“And his servants came near and spoke to him and said, ‘My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’? So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
Look closely at what his servants told him. They asked him that should Elisha had asked something great of him would he have gladly done it? Of course the answer was yes. He would have done it because then he would have been involved in the healing and what he was being asked to do meant something. His servants were attempting to get him to understand that he was getting ready to head for a fall, not because his request was denied; but because the answer was not coming in the manner he believed that it should. Everyone around him believed that Elisha could and would heal him starting with the young lady who originally told his wife that he should see Elisha. Once he got there, all of his servants believed. Naaman was the one who had the leprosy and he was the one needing healing and he was the only one offended in the manner in which it came. How many blessings have we walked out on because of the manner in which they came? How many of our prayers have gone unanswered because we refused the answer because of the manner in which they were answered?
In this story we see the faith of a young woman who believed that the man of God could heal her master. This young woman’s heart was turned to God. She was a captive prisoner forced into slavery and yet she had enough compassion within her to want her master healed. Had she been wrong her master could have had her killed but there was never a doubt in her mind of what God would do through Elisha. We also read about the king of Israel who should have invited Elisha into his counsel as the man of God, but yet did not really consider Elisha as anyone special. Not only had he forgotten about what God had done through his prophets, he did not care. When he received the letter he immediately went to “Woe is ME!” Elisha’s ability to heal this man through the power of God never crossed his mind. Elisha had to come to the king in order to help. Finally there was Naaman. He needed the healing; but along the way he had played out in his mind how it would happen. Because he had a belief that it should happen a certain way, he would not accept it any other way. His pride was about to cost him the blessing that God was going to give him. Where are you in the story? Are you the young lady who believed despite of her situation? Are you the king of Israel who should understand what God can do but have forgotten? Or are you Naaman who will only believe in something if it is packaged the way you want it to be packaged? Which one is you?
Conclusion
I started this message several weeks ago. We have traveled from adding unbelief and wrong beliefs to our faith to adding the right beliefs – all of which impacts the final results. As I conclude this series, I was thinking about the one think that I wanted you to walk away with knowing. If you do not remember anything else from what I have shared during the last few weeks, I want you to remember this: You believe something and you will act on and apply your faith to what you believe.
Christianity and how it is practiced today is as varied as the colors of the rainbow. The reason “Christianity” as a religion varies so greatly is because of what people choose to believe. Today there are many different Christian denominations and the only common thing they share is that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. Once you get past that belief, then it is up for grabs. For this reason alone some believe one thing while others believe something else. Once a person chooses to believe something, they gravitate to others who share a similar belief. This is a very basic explanation of why there are so many different practices of Christianity – the religion.
Well I am not talking to you about a religion, I am talking to you about what you believe. You may disagree with me or we may share the same beliefs, but whatever it is that you believe has motivated you to be a part of this Church versus the many other churches in this city. You will always act on what you believe and you will apply your faith accordingly. The eleventh chapter of Hebrews lists a group of people who accomplished things by their faith; we often call this chapter “The Hall of Faith”. Well when you read through the list, everyone of them before they acted believed something and they applied their faith to what they believed. For example:
o Able offered God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain – why, because he believed what God had said about sacrifices.
o Noah built an ark. Why? Because when God said it was going to rain, Noah believed God.
o Abraham left his family. Why? Because he believed God when God told him he would establish him and it was actually credited to him as righteousness.
o Joseph on his death bed made his sons promise to take his bones out of Egypt when the left. Why? Because he believed God that God would not leave them in Egypt and that one day He would deliver them out of the hands of Pharaoh.
o Moses delivered the Children of Israel out of Egypt. Why? Because when God told him to go he believed that God would do just what He said He would.
These are just a few examples listed in Hebrews the eleventh chapter. My point in sharing this with you is so you will consider what you actually believe. In each of these situations the outcome would have been different if they would have believed something else. But because they believed what they did, they were able to accomplish what God had called them to do.
What do you believe right now? What beliefs are currently powering your faith? What have you placed before God that you are 100% certain that it will be done? If you take nothing else from this series, remember that you already have faith and that may not be the core of your problem. But just as a car is powered by gasoline, you faith is powered by what you believe. If you put water in your gas tank, the car will not move. If unbelief or the wrong beliefs are powering your faith then you can understand why you are where you are right now. The only way to change your circumstance is to start believing God!
What He said He will do! May God bless and keep you is my prayer.
