THE BEST WAY TO DO IT

It’s always interesting to me how the Lord can teach so many different lessons from one Bible story.  Most recently, He had me studying Naaman.   I have studied Naaman many times and learned about the cost of pride and disobedience, but there is one more lesson I can add to that list.

Naaman was the Syrian leper who heard about the prophet from another country who could heal him.  Naaman went to the king of Syria to get his blessing to travel to Israel and see if he could be healed.  The king of Syria followed protocol and sent Naaman with a letter to the king of Israel requesting healing. 

The king of Israel knew he couldn’t heal anyone so he sent Naaman to the prophet Elijah.  The prophet sent his servant to tell Naaman to dip seven times in the Jordan River.  Naaman was about to leave in a rage when one of his servants reminded him that he would have been willing to do what the prophet said if it had been what Naaman was thinking might happen.

Naaman headed the advice, went to the River Jordan, dipped seven times and was healed.  Naaman’s healing was almost averted because he had preconceived notions about how it should be done.  I think we Christians are often guilty of the same thing without realizing it.

How many times do we get a certain idea in our head of how God will move or do something on our behalf?  I wonder how many times we have missed out on something special because we were looking one direction and God was moving another.  This is especially true of those of us who have known the Lord a long time.  We put Him in a box and aren’t even aware we have done so.

The king of Syria mistakenly thought the king of Israel would be the one to heal Naaman.  Naaman thought the prophet would heal him in a certain way.  Both of these men were wrong.  Fortunately, Naaman listened to the wise comments of his servant and realized that some miracles come to us in a very different way than what we expect.  The morale of this blog is that God can and will move in ways we would never expect.  The challenge is to stay open to anything He may ask of you and don’t be surprised when He works on your behalf in unusual ways.  He always knows the best way to do things   2 Kings 5:1-19

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED THAT DAY

I find it very hard to blog during the holiday season.  I am as busy as most of you are, but that’s not the reason I find it so difficult.  It’s that I don’t like to blog generic thoughts.  I want any blog I write to be thought provoking or inspiring.  So many of the holiday themed blogs can seem trite at best.

The Lord brought something to mind as I was pondering this blogging dilemma.  I was watching a TV show and heard a man give his testimony about dying and coming back to life.  (His name was Howard Storm if you want to check it out.)  He talked about being an atheist before his dramatic conversion, but it was something else he said that really caught my attention.

He spoke about the love of God that he sensed during his experience.  It was obvious that he was having difficulty expressing the extent of God’s love for us.  It made me think about the depth of my own relationship with the Lord.  It would be hard for me to put into words how real His love is to me.  In fact, I don’t know that anyone who hasn’t truly experienced it could fathom how deeply and intimately He loves His children.

The day that Jesus was born was not only the birth of the Son of God.  Yes, our Savior was born, but there was more that happened that day.  It was the birth of Love Personified in this earth.  Once you truly experience the depth of His love then you know it is not a trite or generic thing in any way.  My prayer for all who read this blog is that you have a true revelation of the depth of His love for you this Christmas season.  It will change your life forever.  Luke 2:15