Luke 4:27 (NIV)
This little unnamed Israelite girl is one of my heroes! She amazes me with her courage, compassion and her faith, so much so that I am looking forward to meeting her and hearing the “rest of her story”: how was she captured, was her family killed, what happened to her after Namaan came back healed, did her mistress worship the LORD, etc, etc? Make no mistake, this is the story of the conversion of a pagan. This man, who is the enemy of Israel, became a worshipper of the Most High God! All because a little girl, who was poor, oppressed, and a captive, cared enough to tell her mistress that God had a man in Israel who could heal her husband.
The king of Israel had no faith at all, and Gehazi the servant of Elisha loved money to his detriment; actually our Lord’s point is that no one in Israel had enough faith. Her parents must have been killed, for surely she received her faith from them! Namaan raged against the Word of God; it was foolishness to him, but his servants were very practical and managed to calm him down enough, to humble himself under the Word of the prophet and do what the prophet told him to do. To obey the Lord requires humility. It requires us to set our pride and reputation to one side and just OBEY. If Namaan hadn’t obeyed, he wouldn’t have been healed.
The Lord knew that His hometown wouldn’t do this. He knew that they would not OBEY Him. They would love to hear Him talk, but they would not OBEY, and therefore there would be no miracles for them. When He told them that their attitude was the issue, Namaan’s rage became their rage, and they tried to remove Jesus from their lives! Oh friend, are you looking for a miracle? Do you desire the saving presence of your Lord? Then OBEY Him. Swallow your pride and OBEY.
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