God Is Closer Than You Think by John Ortberg

Author:John Ortberg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2020-03-12T00:00:00+00:00

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God intervenes for the general through the most unlikely source: a slave girl.

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In the ancient world the first sign of leprosy was regarded as a death sentence. There is nothing Naaman can do. All his brains, courage, wealth, power, and connections are useless. He’s going to die.

GOD SPEAKS THROUGH A SLAVE GIRL

But God intervenes. He does it through the most unlikely source: a slave girl that Naaman brought back with him from Israel.

The slave girl has been dragged away from home, from her mother and father, the people she knows and loves. She has lost all her dreams of marriage and children and home and a life of her own. If Naaman is at the top of the pecking order, she — a female, a slave, a prisoner-of-war — is at the bottom. And Naaman is the man who puts her there.

But God is going to use her to save him. The life of this all-powerful general rests in the hands of an oppressed slave. She tells Mrs. Naaman, “There is a way. Among my people there is a man named Elisha. He has power from God. He can heal Naaman.”

Imagine Naaman’s response. Elisha is an Israelite. Israel is the country Naaman has just clobbered. He has just killed their king and who knows how many of their people. For Naaman to go there would be like a Palestine militant looking for medical help in Tel Aviv.

Moreover, it’s a slave girl who’s telling him what to do. He’s not used to taking direction from slave girls. But what else is he going to do? He’s desperate. He humbles himself. He does what she says.

He explains his situation to his boss, the king of Aram. The king says, “Okay. I’ll write a letter to the king of Israel. It will have to be the new king, since you’ve killed the old one. (Are you sure this is a good idea, Naaman?)”

The king of Aram doesn’t have a clue about how to proceed; he knows nothing of God. He just assumes kings are always in control, so the king of Israel must have control of this magic power to heal. He writes a letter that Naaman delivers to the king: With this letter I’m sending my servant Naaman so you can cure him of leprosy. And to butter him up, the general takes along 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and ten sets of clothing for the king.

Now Naaman has hope again. He’s got connections — he can use his networks to save his life. He’s got wealth — he can use his money to buy back his life.

The king of Israel gets the letter and is not happy about this. He is a corrupt and cowardly king, as was his father. He completely misinterprets this: “The king of Aram is asking me to cure a soldier of leprosy? This is a set-up. Just a pretext to come after me.”

All he’s thinking about is himself. (One can’t help but notice that God doesn’t speak much through the VIPs in this story.

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