STP (Study, Trust, Pray) for June 30, 2022
Wash and Be Clean
“Naaman was general of the army under the king of Aram. He was important to his master, who held him in the highest esteem because it was by him that God had given victory to Aram: a truly great man, but afflicted with a grievous skin disease. It so happened that Aram, on one of its raiding expeditions against Israel, captured a young girl who became a maid to Naaman’s wife. One day she said to her mistress, ‘Oh, if only my master could meet the prophet of Samaria, he would be healed of his skin disease.’ 4 Naaman went straight to his master and reported what the girl from Israel had said. 5 ‘Well then, go,’ said the king of Aram. ‘And I’ll send a letter of introduction to the king of Israel.’ So he went off, taking with him about 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and ten sets of clothes. 6 Naaman delivered the letter to the king of Israel. The letter read, ‘When you get this letter, you’ll know that I’ve personally sent my servant Naaman to you; heal him of his skin disease.’ 7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he was terribly upset, ripping his robe to pieces. He said, ‘Am I a god with the power to bring death or life that I get orders to heal this man from his disease? What’s going on here? That king’s trying to pick a fight, that’s what!’ 8 Elisha the man of God heard what had happened, that the king of Israel was so distressed that he’d ripped his robe to shreds. He sent word to the king, ‘Why are you so upset, ripping your robe like this? Send him to me so he’ll learn that there’s a prophet in Israel.’ 9 So Naaman with his horses and chariots arrived in style and stopped at Elisha’s door.
10 Elisha sent out a servant to meet him with this message: ‘Go to the River Jordan and immerse yourself seven times. Your skin will be healed and you’ll be as good as new.’ 11-12 Naaman lost his temper. He spun around saying, ‘I thought he’d personally come out and meet me, call on the name of God, wave his hand over the diseased spot, and get rid of the disease. The Damascus rivers, Abana and Pharpar, are cleaner by far than any of the rivers in Israel. Why not bathe in them? I’d at least get clean.’ He stomped off, mad as a hornet. 13 But his servants caught up with him and said, ‘Father, if the prophet had asked you to do something hard and heroic, wouldn’t you have done it? So why not this simple “wash and be clean”?’ 14 So he did it. He went down and immersed himself in the Jordan seven times, following the orders of the Holy Man. His skin was healed; it was like the skin of a little baby. He was as good as new.”—2 Kings 5:1-14 MSG
Today we have this week’s scripture that I’ll be using at Vesta from The Message Translation. This scripture is packed with idiosyncrasies or quirky happenings that needs to be looked at a little closer. Maybe it was part of God’s plan that Naaman would capture a servant girl in a raid on Israel that shared with his wife about the Prophet in Israel. When the king of Aram heard the news, he immediately sent Naaman with gifts to king of Israel to hopefully get healing for his favored servant. Unfortunately, the letter was difficult to understand and the response of the king of Israel was almost laughable. Then when Elisha, the Prophet of Israel, gave a simple command to “wash and be clean” Naaman was furious that more wasn’t demanded of him. Thankfully, his servants understood that faith in the God of Israel was all he needed.
Lord, strengthen our faith in you…Amen.
Vesta United Methodist Church Service; 9:00am Sunday; 8833 Highway 217, Charleston, AR…
Cecil United Methodist Church Service; 10:45am Sunday; Hwy 96 & 41, Cecil AR…
Today’s Memory Verse: “So he did it. He went down and immersed himself in the Jordan seven times, following the orders of the Holy Man. His skin was healed; it was like the skin of a little baby. He was as good as new.”—2 Kings 5:14 MSG
Act in faith, blessings and prayers…