When faced with life's challenges,
it is Important to Remember
that although Daniel was saved from the lions,
he was not saved from the Lion's Den.


Saturday, May 29, 2010

Do you have time?



One of my favorite stories in the Bible is about Naaman.  He was the captain of the hosts of Syria.  He was a great and an honorable man.  But he was also a leper.  During that time, lepers were considered outcasts and were not allowed to be with the people who were clean. 
Naaman's wife had a servant that was an Israelite.  She told Naaman's wife that if Naaman were with the prophet Elisha, he would be healed of leprosy.  After much negotiation, Naaman brought his horses and his chariots to Elisha's house.  I am sure that he thought he was an important man and that the prophet should stop everything he was doing and meet him.  However, Elisha sent his servant to Naaman. 
The servant told him to go and wash in the river Jordan seven times, and his flesh would return to him and he would be clean.  Naaman was very angry.  Not only had Elisha thought that he was important enough to see, but now he was being asked to wash in the Jordan river.  Naaman said:  "Are not the rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel?  May I not wash in them, and be clean?"  So he turned and went away in a rage.
Naaman surely understood what the Lord wanted him to do.  But he did not want to do it.  He had a hard time believing that such a seemingly small thing would cure his disease.
Naaman's servants pled with him:  "If the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it?"  Faced with no choice accept to suffer and die from leprosy and to be an outcast all the rest of his life, Naaman traveled to Israel and washed himself seven times in the Jordan River according to the words of the prophet Elisha.  And after he did that small thing, he was completely healed.  (2 Kings 5:1-14)

Today, as in the times of Naaman, one may be great, honorable, wealthy, noble, and mighty, but still be spiritually lost.  In our homes, we have rooms for nearly anything.  We have a room to prepare food in, a room to dine in, rooms to sleep in, rooms to entertain company in, and even rooms to watch TV.  Yet so many of us are like like Naaman was, and in all we have, we can yet find no room for Jesus Christ.
In our busy lives, we have time to work, time to play, time to be with family, time to watch television, time to check our emails, time to make phone calls.  But do we make time, as Naaman eventually had to learn to do, to follow the council and teachings of the Prophets and apostles?  Do we make time in our very busy lives to welcome the Savior in? 

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This week, let us remember to make a space for the Savior in our homes and our lives so that He can heal our hearts and even our homes.  Let us remember Him in all we do and allow Him to mold each one of us into the person that He needs us to be.  Let us remember the story of Naaman.   

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