Daily Devotional

“Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honourable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valour, but a leper” (2 Kings 5:1). 

Did you know that modern leprosy, or Hansen’s Disease, is caused by a bacteria related to tuberculosis? This disease affecting skin and nerves can cause disfiguration and blindness. Although treatable with antibiotics, many countries can’t afford to treat everyone; there are an estimated three million people suffering permanent disabilities from leprosy. 

We don’t know how long Naaman, the great Syrian general, suffered from leprosy before he set out to find a cure. But he was desperate enough to leave his own country and seek help from a prophet in enemy territory. 

When he arrived at Elisha’s house, the prophet sent someone with a message: “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean” (2 Kings 5:10). 

Naaman was furious. It certainly wasn’t the reception he had expected. He had told himself that the prophet would come out to meet him, call on his God, wave his hand over the leprosy, and heal him. And why the Jordan? “Are not … the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” (verse 12). He left in a rage. 

His servants were thinking more clearly than their master and gently coaxed him to do what the prophet had said. So, after simmering down, Naaman set aside his pride and “went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean” (verse 14). 

Pride and obedience are mortal enemies. In order to be healed of the leprosy of sin, each of us must banish self-importance and “every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). 

Dear God, please give me victory over any pride that keeps me from living in obedience to You.