Naaman's Servant Girl: God's Power
Bible Readings
Take a few minutes to read the Bible verses listed and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you in how this verse applies to you this week.
Memory Verse
I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help. I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness from the great assembly. (NIV)
How do you know if someone is powerful? Do they look big and scary? Do they make a lot of noise? Would they dress in nice clothes and do flashy things? If we only think of power in these ways, we can have a hard time seeing all the ways God is working.
Naaman was a powerful man. He understood strength and authority, and he knew how powerful people worked. But God gave him a lesson in a more quiet kind of power. It started with the concern of a servant girl for Naaman’s skin condition. Naaman’s army had captured her from Israel. We do not know this young girl’s name, but even enslaved far away from her home and family, she felt bad about the pain Naaman suffered, and she mentioned to his wife that there was a prophet in Israel who could heal him.
When Naaman heard this, he went to his powerful king who contacted Israel’s powerful king. But Naaman’s arrival in Israel only caused confusion and frustration. When Naaman finally went to Elisha’s house, Elisha didn’t even come out but sent another servant to tell Naaman to go take a bath in the Jordan. This was not the kind of power Naaman expected; he wanted Elisha to do something. His servants eventually convinced Naaman to give it a try, and it worked! Elated, he offered rich gifts to Elisha. Powerful people like gifts, right? But Elisha refused. God’s power follows different rules.
With God’s power, we don’t have to do loud or flashy things to help people. It takes a lot of courage to do the right thing in a hard situation and to let go of our ideas of “the way things should be.” Naaman’s servant girl was brave enough to show God’s love to an enemy, and that allowed God to change a heart and a nation. What could he do through you?
Prayer
Dear Jesus, you have so much power, but you lived a quiet life of helping people. Use that simple power through me. Help me to do the right thing even when it is hard. Amen.Related Resources
Heather Altena
Heather Altena grew up in West Michigan, moved to the West Coast, and now lives just two blocks west of Chicago. She attends Pullman Christian Reformed Church and works various teaching-, literary-, writing-, theater-, and computer-related related jobs for the Southwest Chicago Christian School Association. She and her husband, Christian, have four children in their teens and twenties and are learning the truth of the magnet on their fridge: "The first 40 years of parenting are the hardest."