This past week I was teaching a class on Asking for HELP. I wrote down the acronym HELP and my class built on each letter. On the letter H, one of the words was humility. This was a great opportunity to share a relatable biblical story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5.

Naaman was a military commander and described as a fierce warrior who had won many battles. Naaman had power and prestige! However, this fierce warrior was developing the skin disease of leprosy. His wife’s servant told him that there was a prophet in Samaria named Elisha who could heal him. Naaman was excited, and headed to Samaria with letters to the king informing him of the reason for his journey. Naaman saddled up his donkeys with gifts of gold, silver, and fine clothing,

When he got to Elijah’s domain, Elisha did not come out to greet him as he had expected, but sent his servant with a message. The message was to dip 7 times in the Jordan and he would be healed. This infuriated Naaman because he was expecting something much different. After all, he was a man of prestige. And according to him, he thought that Elijah would come outside, call upon the name of God, pass his hands over the leprous sores, and heal him. On top of that, there were better rivers than the nasty Jordan. This does not make any sense.

As he stormed away his servants counseled him. “What if Elisha had told you to do something great? Wouldn’t you would have done it?” So he swallowed his pride, became humble, washed himself 7 times, and on his seventh dip in the water he was healed. Naaman’s skin was renewed as that of a baby. Had it not been for his servants, his pride and lack of humility would have prevented his healing. Maybe you can relate?

Later that day I texted a friend of mine who is an elected official asking for help to reach out to one of her cohorts who was not responding to my several emails to seek a meeting. She texted me back stating that she would reach out to his Aide. Within less than an hour I got an email from the Aide which infuriated me. It stated that the State Representative was busy, and I would have to meet with him in Washington because when he is here locally he is busy with his job. Or, I would have to meet with her or another Aide. I immediately entered into a Naaman’s mindset. I was furious! After all, who does this Aide think she is? Doesn’t she know who I am? Well, maybe he should not run for office if he is too busy for his constituents, and I will help to vote him out. And on and on like the energizer bunny. having a meltdown in my head. Then I shifted gears. Being the ‘Christian’ that I am, I began asking God to help me with a ‘Christian’ response to this ridiculous and insensitive email.

Instantly the Holy Spirit convicted me- “You sound like that same Naaman you spoke about this morning. If she had told you to do something great, wouldn’t you have done it? Well, treat her response as something great. What if God has positioned her or the other Aide she suggested to be the best path to the Representative? What if you convince them, and they convince him to understand Hearts Flow’s Homeless Initiative, and the need for immediate funding? What do you have to lose?”

Wow!!!!. I was actually having a Naaman’s experience. And thanks be to God for the Holy Spirit’s intervention. The same Spirit that Jesus promised that he would send. Lesson learned! Humility will lead me to the open doors that God has waiting for me, and YOU. Thanks be to God. I serve and awesome God who is control of my destiny.

From the desk of Andy from Miami.