You came back to this place and ate and drank where he told you not to eat and drink. Because of this, your body will not be buried in the grave of your ancestors.
— 1 Kings 13
My daughter was so proud of her baking efforts.
However, after taking one bite of what appeared to be delicious homemade cookies, we knew something was terribly wrong.
With faces shriveled and contorted, we attempted to chew and swallow them, but we just couldn’t force ourselves to do it.
Hurt, she took a bite and quickly removed it from her mouth as well. As it turns out, teaspoon and tablespoon are not the same things, particularly when it comes to the ingredient of salt.
Details are a big deal.
The prophet in our story knew what God had told him. Deliver a message of judgment to the king. Go home a different way and do not stop at the drive-thru on your way out of town.
Simple. Clear. Go in and get out.
Well on his way to a success-ful mission, a deceptive voice attracted his attention.
The voice sounded legitimate. He spoke “God talk” and everything.
Never mind the fact that the words were the exact opposite of what God had told him. His stomach was growling. The lie was what he wanted to hear. Result? Death by lion.
So many commands of God come to us with clarity and simplicity.
Forgive. Love God. Love your neighbor. Serve. Encourage.
We are the ones who want to muddy up the waters.
The devil wants to muddy up the waters.
Ditto with the world we live in.
“Did God really say … ?” the devil asked Eve.
We challenge God’s word as if we think he needs our help.
He gives detailed instructions so that our lives line up with the way he created this world to work.
Be careful.
The devil truly is in the details trying to deceive and then devour. Don’t let that be you.
Healed
So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. And his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child’s, and he was healed!
— 2 Kings 5:1-19
Falling out of bed, my little granddaughter suffered a broken collar bone.
With a colorful miniature sling in place, she came bouncing into our house announcing, “I broke my collar bone, Grandpa!”
I carefully bent over and gave her a little hug and words of comfort.
Satisfied, off she went to make sure everyone else knew what had happened.
“Grandma, I broke my collar bone!”
Within a few weeks tops, the novelty wore off along with the pain.
She was healed, the sling disappeared and she resumed her full-contact 2-year-old life.
Naaman, the mighty Aramean army commander, found himself in a sling, too.
It wasn’t a cloth strap over his shoulder. It was a slow terminal skin disease, leprosy.
Given the testimony of a young girl of a healing prophet in Israel, he took off with quite the entourage.
Elisha sent word to Israel’s king to send Naaman to him. A simple messenger greeted Naaman with the instructions to simply wash.
“Wash in this dirty river!? Not happening!” he yelled.
Naaman’s real sling was sin. The leprosy was God’s gracious way to address it.
Humbled and healed, his heart belonged to God.
Which character do you most identify with today? The little girl sharing the Good News? The lost-in-space king of Israel? The proud, self-sufficient commander looking for affirmations of his importance? His friends who loved him enough to tell him the truth?
This scene is a microcosm of the human condition. All the infirmities in this world are ultimately rooted in sin.
Sin’s antidote is singular.
It is the blood of Jesus shed on the cross for the forgiveness of sins.
God’s gracious healing awaits all who will humbly turn and believe.
What response is God nudging you to take?
Wiles is senior minister of Fall Creek Christian Church in Pendleton. He can be reached at 765-778-3166.