No doubt every Sunday school child has heard the main story of 2 Kings chapter 5 - the story of how Aramean army commander, Naaman, was healed of a terrible skin disease after following the instructions given to him by a prophet of the Lord. Our re-telling of the story usually focuses on those two protagonists: the army commander and the prophet Elisha. We seldom pause to focus on those other two people in the first seven verses: King Joram of Israel and the unnamed little servant girl.
Whenever I lead a workshop about the spiritual capacity of children and youth, I usually invite the participants to search through their Bibles and discover what the Word really teaches about what children are capable of spiritually. Most times they will name this little girl as an example of what they have found out.
We don't know how old she was and we don't know who her parents were, but in just one verse (vs 3) we discover a child who has been raised from a young age to know and trust the God of Israel. Here she is, far from home and with her parents no longer around, yet this little girl believes and courageously speaks out that there is a God in Israel who can heal. There was probably a risk involved in doing that - to suggest to a person of status that only an enemy people's God might be able to heal him.
And I also see here a little girl who has learned the principle of forgiveness. Rather than rejoicing in the misfortune of an enemy (Naaman was, after all, an army commander of the nation that had invaded Israel and "kidnapped" this little girl, taking her away to be a slave) she volunteers information that could lead to his healing and restoring.
The child's testimony must have been convincing, because it's sufficient to make Naaman speak with his king and for this man, the King of Aram, to release him to go to Israel. With his limited understanding of how such things work, the King of Aram sends extravagant gifts of of silver, gold and cloth to Joram, King of Israel, saying, "Here is my employee, Naaman. I want you to heal him of his leprosy."
Faced with exactly the same impossible situation, but in complete contrast to the simple faith of that little girl, King Joram of Israel is plunged into panic and despair by this development. (vs 7) "I'm done for," he says, as he considers this demand from an enemy who had previously invaded his nation. "There's no way I'm able to do this. I'm not God!"
Joram has no instinctive response of saying to himself, "But there is a God in Israel who can do this." No faith-filled thoughts of, "What an amazing opportunity this is for our enemies to see that our God is the one true God." (Of course, Joram had long ago allowed other gods to creep into his life and into the nation.)
The difference between King Joram and that unnamed little girl was that the child was firmly convinced of what God could do. The king, on the other hand, had his focus on what he himself couldn't do, instead of on what the Almighty God could do.
Where is our focus when we run into challenges or difficulties and are faced with things that we ourselves can't change? Is our response to fall into fear or worry, or perhaps to scramble to find a solution in our own strength? Or do we have the same faith as that little child, firmly convinced that this is a wonderful opportunity for God to prove Himself?
Whether we're facing a personal situation, a family situation, a ministry challenge or a worldwide pandemic, will our response be to focus on what we or other people can't do, or to focus on what our all-powerful God can do?
