In, 2 Kings 5:1–5, we learn that Naaman is a great man, in high favor with his king. Yet Naaman has leprosy.
Here is a man who has everything except his health. On the other end of the spectrum stands our real main character: a young girl taken captive and made a slave to Naaman’s wife. She is far from home and family and legally unprotected. However, this girl does not keep her head down in frightened obedience. She offers a word of hope to her mistress: “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy” (v. 3).
Can we understand the great risk she takes in speaking up this way? In full assurance that the God of Israel can heal (and even will heal a foreigner), she speaks, confident in an even greater power.
This excerpt is from the Bible study “Act Boldly!” by Sarah S. Henrich in the July/August 2005 issue of Lutheran Woman Today, now Gather magazine.
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