Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”
The prophet answered, “As surely as the LORD lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing.” And even though Naaman urged him, he refused. (2 Kings 5.15-16)
“In thus laying these riches at Elisha’s feet, [Naaman] was giving the Lord a claim to all his property. Because Elisha waived this gift in order to prevent any misunderstanding about the true basis of salvation, we cannot deduce that the Lord has no claims on our wealth, for he does. John Wesley used to ask of new converts, ‘Has his pocket-book been converted yet?’ We cannot pay the Lord, but we can repay Him in some way, by laying all we have… at His disposal…
[Naaman] was prepared to abandon all old rivals to the Lord. He wanted to be different. This meant an end to duplicity and living for the ‘best of both worlds.’ He knew that he could not love Yahweh and bow to Rimmon… He had to go back home to a world where God was not welcomed [nor] confessed… [Elisha] was sure that the God who had so thoroughly cleaned up Naaman’s skin would have no difficulty in totally purging Naaman’s heart.” (G. Haslam, Elisha: A Sign and a Wonder, p. 137f.)
Let’s pray: Lord, You alone are God. You alone are Savior. You alone are Healer. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Let’s sing: “I Speak Jesus” by Charity Gayle (click here).
– JP