Are Your Friends Able To Be This Honest With You?

​2 Kings 5:11-14 - But Naaman was furious and went away and said, "Behold, I thought, 'He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.' "Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" 
 
So he turned and went away in a rage. Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, "My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, 'Wash, and be clean'?"  So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean.   NASU 

• Naaman's Situation 

2 Kings 5:1 - Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man with his master, and highly respected, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man was also a valiant warrior, but he was a leper. 
 
He was the captain of the army of Aram. He was considered a great man, he was highly respected and he was a valiant warrior. It would be easy to see how this man could be a little puffed up with pride.
 
Naaman only has one problem. He has leprosy. He has heard he can be cured if he could make contact with the prophet of Israel who is in Samaria. So he receives permission from the king to go and connect with this prophet. 

• His Vision 

2 Kings 5:9-11 -  So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots and stood at the doorway of the house of Elisha. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you and you will be clean." But Naaman was furious and went away and said, "Behold, I thought, 'He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.'
 
What Elisha did was not what Naaman had envisioned. Naaman thought the prophet would come out and meet him after all he is a great man in Aram. Elisha doesn't respond the way Naaman thought he would. He tells him through a messenger to go dip himself seven times in the Jordan River.
 
Naaman becomes furious because Elisha doesn't heal Naaman the way he thought he would be healed and he goes away enraged. 

• His Friend's Save The Day 

2 Kings 5:13 - Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, "My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, 'Wash, and be clean'?"
 
Elisha, through a messenger, tells Naaman to go dip himself in the Jordan River seven times and be healed. Naaman doesn't want to do this he wants to argue about his two rivers in Damascus being better than the Jordan River.
 
He departs in a rage. His servants approach him and speak logically to him. They ask him a question, "If the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it?"
 
The answer to their question is "Yes, he would have done it."
 
They convince him to do what the prophet said and when he does he is healed of his leprosy. 

• Do You Have Any Friends Like That? 

Do you have any friends who will confront you when they know you are really being childish with your actions?
 
Naaman did and because they weren't afraid to confront him he was healed of his leprosy.
 
Friends like this are rare but count yourself blessed if you have even one.
 
Think On This:
 
A true friend thinks of you when all others are thinking of themselves.
 
Stay Pumped,
 
Gary A. Serago

Minister of God's Word