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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion February 12, 2006 Naaman Healed of Leprosy< |
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Frontline Devotion for Sunday, February 12, 2006 by Gary Shaffer
As in so many biblical stories, there are several key themes that can be addressed in this story. After consulting some study aides and trying to develop a meaningful devotion, I decided to walk away for a little while and rethink my approach. I was having difficulty because there was an aspect to the story that I kept coming back to. It was not what the studies I was referring to were focusing on. So, I will focus on a part of the story that in my life once again seems to be a recurring struggle in my walk of faith.
Naaman has gone off in a rage because God has not acted, through his prophet Elisha, in the way that Naaman expected. So, "Naaman's servants went to him and said, 'My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he tells you, 'Wash and be cleansed'!'" 2 Kings 5: 13. Naaman simply expected different actions on the part of the prophet or perhaps a more challenging set of demands to earn his healing. I think that he was confused or caught off guard, it seems even insulted by what Elisha tells him to do. Naaman does eventually act in faith and do what he has been told to do.
What does the Lord require of us?
This is the aspect of the story that parallels my struggle. I have difficulty accepting the grace of God as offered. Consequently I am not always living a life of gratitude. Certainly that which we must do in order to approach God must be complex and difficult and demanding. Right? I mean how free is the grace of God? I have frequently returned to Micah 6: 8. Here, following the same questions of what one must bring before the Lord - a thousand rams? Ten thousand rivers of oil? - Micah says,
"...And what does the Lord require of you,
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?"
It seems so simple, perhaps too simple. Not that working for justice or being kind is necessarily easy. It's not. However, they are very simple requirements in that they are easily comprehended. Work for justice. Be kind. Walk humbly. And, this may be what God requires, but the grace is given freely - not in response to our action, not because we earned it.. But because God so loves... I should be constantly grateful for what God has done for me, but I do not always accept or comprehend God's grace. Like Naaman my initial response is not always an expression of gratitude but a challenging of the Giver and the gift.
What does the Lord require of us? Lives of faith. Trust. Our hearts. Gratitude. Kindness. Humility.
Dear Lord, please open our hearts to your presence and fill us with your spirit. Enrich our lives with the faith necessary to do justice; to love kindness: to walk humbly. Help us to respond to your grace by living lives marked by gratitude, kindness and humility. Give us the courage to act according to your will and the wisdom to discern it. Amen
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