July 3 – 2 Kings 5-8

Below are my thoughts from the daily Bible reading of the West Side Church of Christ. Today’s reading comes from 2 Kings 5-8. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word. Also above in the tabs is a link to the Bible reading plan.

Sometimes we have to learn the hard way don’t we? Maybe it is repeating history. People tend to make the same mistakes each and every generation has. Maybe it is accomplishing a task. For some reason we just do not see the easy way of doing something, so we spend our time learning to do it the hard way. Maybe at times it’s our bullheadedness. Sure we could do it the easy way, but that would mean listening to someone else, or giving in, or acknowledging you just do not have all the answers.

Today we saw a man almost let his pride take him the hard way. Naaman had leprosy. His wife’s servant shared with him about the prophet Elisha and his ability to heal Naaman. So Naaman left his nation of Aram and went to Israel to seek Elisha. Elisha told Naaman to go to the Jordan River and dip himself to wash seven times. Well Naaman had seen the Jordan as he crossed over it and believed it was nowhere near as nice as the rivers back in his homeland. So he thought this advice was silly. Luckily for him, he had wise officers with him.

These officers reasoned with him sharing this idea … “Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, would not you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, ‘Go and wash and be cured.!” (2 Kings 5:13 NLT). So where do I need to say that to you? Why do you try the hard route when honoring God can contain the simple route? Why are you willing to do the hard things for God but completely ignore the simple things that build a solid foundation for spiritual growth?