A Godly Slave Girl.

"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." 2 Kings 5:2,3

Raiders from Aram had gone into Israel. They had probably killed people and destroyed houses and buildings. It was common for raiders to also steal people for slaves in order to sell them and get money.

This slave girl was taken in such a raid. Were her parents still alive? We don't know. If they were they must have been devastated. If they were killed, the girl must have been horrified. All in all, it was a tragedy for that household and city.

But Paul said, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

It is evil to raid, destroy and make slaves of people. But God can bring good out of even that!

The slave girl's master became a leper. This was a terrible blow to that family. And what did the slave girl do? Did she think, "Good, I'm glad he is being punished. He deserves it." No, she wanted to help him and his wife. She didn't want revenge - she loved her enemies.

The wife of Naaman must have been a nice person since her slave felt she could talk with her. The girl herself believed in God, for she believed in his prophet. She must have heard of all the healing Elisha had done. In her simple, beautiful faith, she was sure Elisha could heal Naaman.

Eventually, this is what happened and Naaman learned to believe in the only true God. Probably his wife did too. We don't know what happened to the slave girl after this. Perhaps she was given her freedom and could go home. I hope so.

Her example of love, forgiveness and faith is written in the Bible for all eternity. I pray I can be like her if something like this ever happened to me.

Will You Be Offended?

When Jesus gave a sermon in his home town of Nazareth, he preached about faith. Faith that is in other nations and religions than their own. Faith that God gives to all.

Jesus said, "There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land. Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow." Luke 4:25-26

God sent Elijah to be fed during the famine to a pagan city and to a certain widow. God knew she had the faith needed to help Elijah. Even though she only had enough food for herself and her son, she fed Elijah first. Because she did this, she was given food by God all during the famine. 1Kings 17

I think Jesus was trying to tell the people that there are other people who believe in God even though they don't belong to their particular religion. They needed to understand they weren't the only ones being saved.

"There were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian."  Luke 4:27

Why was Naaman, a pagan, cleansed? He had enough faith to first go to Elisha and then to do what Elisha told him to do. He decided to let go of his pride and dip in the Jordan River seven times. After he was healed, he worshiped the God of Israel. But there is an interesting detail in this story. Naaman asked Elisha if God would pardon him for going into the pagan temple once a year with the king of his country and bowing down to the idol. It was part of his duty to do this. Elisha told him yes, he could do that and it would be alright. I wonder what a pastor would say today to what Naaman asked?  2 Kings 5

The people of Nazareth were so angry that Jesus would say pagans were deserving of God's blessings they grabbed him and took him to the edge of a cliff intending to push him over. But Jesus disappeared while he was in the middle of the crowd. God would not let Jesus die that day, he had more work for him to do.

"God has given to each man a measure of faith." Romans 12:3 We do not know the faith that others have towards God, that is why we are never to judge anyone no matter what religion they belong to.