**1 Kings 5:1-14** Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. * Usually we are more familiar with someone’s victories than with their vulnerabilities * Syria recently experienced a deadly earthquake

**Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife.** She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”**Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said.** “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. **The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.”** * Naaman represents everyone seeking God

As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!” * The king saw a fight, Elisha saw an opportunity * We feel angry whenever life presents us with something we are not equipped for. (dad, bill/job, faith to believe) * Most of us fight the opportunities God is actually sending us (I didn’t expect…)

**When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.”** So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. **Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”**But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. **Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage.** * 2 most dangerous words between you and peace. (thank you, piano) * Elisha didn’t run after him. He let God work through another * He became angry because he didn’t go in. When I don’t go into the presence of God, when I don’t ask God, “What are you doing in this situation”? When I don’t seek the spirit of God to lead me. If I would have taken one moment and said, “I don’t wanna fight about this. I don’t wanna be right. I wanna be healed. I don’t want to prove my own power. I wanna receive your power.

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’!” **So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.**

**Luke 4:24, 27**“Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown… And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.” * When we are obeying God we don’t see the change. His skin didn’t heal with every dip. We need to have faith for the end. * As long as we want to be in control, we’ll be angry. That’s why we have the presence of God. This is the Jordan river where we can dip 7 times. Isn’t it interesting that God’s greatest goal in Naaman’s life was not to heal his skin, but to produce faith in his heart.