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Naaman and the Seven Ducks
2 Kings 5:1-14
Naaman was a valiant warrior and captain of the army of Aram. He was highly respected by the king of Aram because the Lord had given him victory. But, despite his position, power, and prestige, Naaman had a problem: he was a leper.A little Jewish girl had been taken captive in battle and she became a servant to Naaman’s wife. The little girl would not stop going on about a prophet in her homeland and she urged her mistress over and over, saying, “I wish my master would go to see the prophet in my homeland. He would cure him of the leprosy.”
One day, Naaman casually mentioned it to the king, explaining how this little girl relentlessly babbled about this possible cure. And, to Naaman’s surprise, the king of Aram sent Naaman with letters and provisions for the journey to seek out this potential cure.
After the long journey, Naaman presented the letters to the king of Israel, which read: “I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may cure him of his leprosy.”
The king of Israel was understandably distraught. “Am I God?” he exclaimed. “How can I cure this man? This is an impossible situation, for the king of Aram is seeking cause to go to war against me if I do not cure him!”
When the prophet Elisha heard about this, he urged the king of Israel to send Naaman to him so that the king of Aram would know that there is a prophet of God in Israel.
So Naaman arrived on Elisha’s doorstep, with his full entourage of royal horses and chariots.
Then, after his grand arrival, Elisha wouldn’t even come out to greet him. Instead, the prophet sent a servant to Naaman, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan River seven times and your flesh will be restored and you will be clean.”
Naaman went away feeling the sting of the apparent insult. In fact, he was downright furious at the unexpected response. He paced back and forth in his camp that night, saying, “I thought for sure the prophet would come out and call upon God and wave his hand over my body or do something so I would be instantly cured. This isn’t the glamorous, miraculous healing that I expected. If all I was supposed to do was bathe in a river, I could have done that at home!”
The disgruntled and disappointed commander set out for home, but his servants dared to speak to him.
“Sir, if the prophet had told you to do some spectacular thing, you would have done it gladly. Why, then, won’t you try this simple act of washing so you may be healed?”
Almost defiantly, Naaman turned back to the Jordan River to prove to his servants that it wouldn’t do any good.
The Jordan River is wide, but not very deep most of the year, so when Naaman stripped off his royal robes and walked into the water, it was little more than waist deep. So Naaman rather indignantly squatted down to duck into the muddy water to be fully immersed. When he emerged, he looked at his leprous body.
No change.
Disappointed, he began to leave the waters, but his servants pleaded, “No! You only did it once. The prophet said to wash seven times.”
Still certain that it would never work, Naaman figured his humiliation could not be any greater, so he resumed this ridiculous ritual.
He squatted down for the second duck.
He held up his arms to show everyone watching that there was no change.
A third duck.
No change.
The fourth duck.
Still nothing.
The fifth duck.
No luck.
The sixth duck.
Not even a hint of improvement.
The seventh duck.
When he emerged from the muddy waters, there was a gasp from his servants, for their master’s skin was as the flesh of a child. He had been healed!
The steps to doing things God’s Way.
1. There Must Be A Reverence For God and the Things of God
2. There Must Be a Drawing to the Lord
3.There Must Be A Turning From Things That Pull us Away From God
4.There Must Be A Confession Of Sin
5.There Must Be A Willingness to Depend On God For Help
