Continuation of “Watch The Times”

Greetings Beloved of God! We must continue yesterday’s subject matter just in case some of you did not read 2 Kings 5th chapter concerning the Syrian Captain, Naaman.

Of course in exchange for Naaman's healing, the Syrian King was willing to give an offering of 10 talents of silver, 6,000 pieces of gold, and 10 changes of raiment (garments). And Naaman himself wanted to give Elisha, Israel's Priest, two plowing mules. But Elisha said to him in response, "As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none". Meaning, he would not except the gifts as payment for a healing.

But someone thought that Priest Elisha should have. And that was Gehazi, the Priest's servant. It is man who thinks of material preservation more so than a spiritual (soul) salvation. Although God is more than aware that both is important, possessing spiritual wealth provides the material wealth because we are aligned with the giver of life, health, and strength to gain wealth. So it was Priest Elisha's duty to be sure that he set the proper example, at the same time acting with wisdom towards others who did not know the living God. God's servant had a convert on his hands, and this was a wiser chess move, more so than to accept a considerably equal pay of money and clothes.

After the servant Gehazi ran down the Syrian Captain to collect what he thought was fair pay due unto Elisha, there were a few things Elisha needed him to know that should have changed his mindset and his life for as long as he lived.

First, Priest Elisha let Gehazi know that he left the grounds and did not represent the heart of God very well in his dealings. For the servant lied about going anywhere at all after being questioned of his where-abouts. Secondly, which is most important about this post today, Elisha asked his servant "was it a time" to receive money, garments, oliveyards, vineyards, sheep, oxen, menservants, and maidservants? Although these things were all the lively hood of their day, the Priest wanted Gehazi to know that these things were not more important than God revealing HIMSELF to all of mankind. Man must know the real giver of life and worship him alone, and not the "Rimmons" and the likes. It has been since the beginning of times that men have brain-stormed and philosophied amongst themselves to come up with the answer of what caused all of existence in the first place. And because of the promise to Abraham, Elisha was obligated to follow his heart, whether he knew God would turn the Syrian Captains heart or not.

So in closing, to teach Gehazi the servant a lesson, God's Priest, Elisha, cursed him simply by speaking leprosy upon him and his seed forever. And from that moment on, the servant of the Priest walked from before his presence a leper as white as snow. Let us not continue to curse our human condition. It has gone on for thousands of years now. At one point in time during my school days, I remember that a fair school age fight would cause you to be friends with an enemy. Seemingly, at first, there was something that you just had to get out of your system before you realized how senseless it was in the first place. And I am afraid that this is what is happening to the world. Let us lay our pride aside, with the realization that we have done enough damage to one another to prove a point, so that God won't have to continue to reveal Himself in the most unsettling, mysterious ways possible, while we refuse to receive His truth in our hearts. Until the next time, be blessed with the words of God from your bible, and with the illumination, revelation, and most of all its understanding that meditating on it can give you.