I. Introduction
We learned them as children. They are forever burned into our memory. However, just because we learned them doesn't mean we learned from them. Let's look at one of these fairytales we know so well and see if we can learn from it today.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall:
All the king's horses and all the kings men,
Couldn't put Humpty back together again.
It is crazy to think that this simple little Mother Goose rhyme could teach us, but it does.
But before I teach the lessons let's see if there is a parallel account in Scripture.
2 Kings 5:1-14
Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.”
As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!” When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.” But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage. Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.
Lessons from the Humpty Dumpty we learned about as children and from the one we read about in Scripture.
Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
Naaman is described as commander, a great man, esteemed, and highly regarded. Like Humpty, he was on the wall. He was elevated. He was valued. He was respected. He was revered. He had it all together and had it going on. Again, like Humpty, he had a great fall. Notice the last statement in verse 1. "He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy." Everybody has a comma in your life. He was was mighty on the outside and struggling on the inside. He was admired in public but he knew the truth about himself in private. In the privacy of his home, when he was alone and took off the armor, looked in the mirror he could not escape the leprosy. He was broken. His future shattered and scrambled. His fans saw the stripes on his jacket, the coat and armor that told of his rank but they could not see under the armor that hid his incurable skin disease!
So many of us are hiding brokenness. But I need us to learn the first lesson and that is . . .
Hidden brokenness isn't the same thing as healed brokenness.
Just because you are on stage no one knows, just because you hide it and fool the people at church, just because every public arena of your life seems great doesn't mean your brokenness is healed. Public perfection doesn't make up for or resolve private pain.
How many of us are covering up? How many of us are faking it? In the privacy of our own home we unmask and come unglued. In the safety of the hidden place we are exposed to the depth of our brokenness and we discover that we too are scrambled and shattered.
What this account teaches us is that when a slave girl speaks up - you need unexpected folks in your life - woman and captive - that you will listen too - is that brokenness must be uncovered to be cured.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty back together again.
Naaman hears what the little girls says and goes to his king, then goes to the king of Israel. Only to have the king of Israel respond with this question . . . "Am I God?"
The second lesson is . . .
Brokenness is permanent, if you don't go to the right kingdom.
Another way of saying this is that if we don't go to the right kingdom any solution we can find is temporary. Naaman discovered his king couldn't help. He discovered the King of Israel couldn't help. The man had power but not the kind of power required to fix Naaman's issue.
Our problem is that too many of us that are broken continue to apply quick and temporary fixes to compound fractures. Band aids when we need surgery. Patches when we need transplants. Too often we turn to people and things that don't have the power necessary to resolve our issue!
I have a question for you today. Is any of the stuff or are any of the people you keep running to for help God? If not, then their solution . . . one more fix, one more dose, one more purchase, one more touch, one more thing, one more adrenaline rush will all come up short and after the effect wears off we discover we are still broken. We will even try crazy stuff and yet what Naaman discovered and what we discover is that the kingdom of this world lacks any power to heal. All it can do is numb, distract, and delay. All the kings horses and men will come up short! We try crazy stuff but won't follow the simple things we are instructed to do by God that would produce healing. We want shows, the spectacular, fan fare and all He wants is simple obedience.
See the only way to find help for our brokenness is the same solution the little girl offered . . . I know a guy. Listen, I know a guy. What Naaman discovered is that the prophet wouldn't put up or deal with posturing or play acting and ultimately pushes down past his skin disease to his heart condition. The prophet requires Naaman to deal with his pride. He worked from the inside out.
Listen, I want you to know I know a man. I want you to know that He specializes in dealing with brokenness. In fact, here are the reviews about Him . . .
Ps. 34:17 - God is close to the brokenhearted and those crushed in spirit.
Ps. 147:3 - He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.
Isaiah 42:3 - He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle. He will bring justice to all who have been wronged.
and what He says about Himself . . .
Luke 4:18-19 - The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
I know a guy. Do you? But have you allowed Him to push you past your symptoms to your condition? Or are you hiding your hurt? Covered your cracks? Putting bandaids on your brokenness?
You can turn to all king's horses and all the king's men and they will never be able to put you back together again. The cure for brokenness isn't what you know, it is who you know!
Jesus is the Balm of Gilead. He can not only purify your wound He can also cause it to be healed where there are no scars. No cracks.
Learn from the tale.
