355 W South Boulder Road
Lafayette, CO 80026
Saturday: 5 PM
Sunday: 9* & 11 AM
*ASL Interpreted Service
Four weeks of live teaching about Elijah and Elisha will show kids how we can give all our worries to God, because he cares for us. Preschoolers will guess what’s being drawn in the video intro each week and see how it fits into the Bible story.
He jumped in a river.
“Give all your worries to God, because he cares for you,” 1 Peter 5:7.
How did Naaman get healed? (He washed in the river seven times.)
Did God take care of Naaman? (yes)
Who will take care of you? (God)
Read: 2 Kings 5:1-19
Naaman had no cure. He was brilliant. He was confident. He was a successful and powerful commander of the Syrian army. But he had leprosy, a debilitating and deteriorating disease, that meant even someone as great as Naaman was a hopeless case. His desperation drove him straight to Elisha’s front door.
When he got there, things did not go down the way he expected. He didn’t even get to see Elisha. Instead, he had to accept instructions from a servant: wash seven times in the Jordan River and be healed. It certainly wasn’t the grandiose welcome and stunning miracle Naaman thought he deserved. He felt disrespected by the lack of flair and glamour his healing ritual would include, and he furiously stormed off, essentially choosing leprosy over healing.
Thankfully, Naaman had people around him who spoke truth and gave him some perspective (2 Kings 5:13), and he finally went to the Jordan River to do exactly as Elisha said. God healed Naaman, and his healing wasn’t just skin deep. Naaman realized that God was the one true God.
Oh, Naaman. We are so much like him sometimes: proud, stubborn, self-reliant. We choose leprosy over healing, slavery over freedom. We believe we deserve something from God and when he fails to meet our expectations, we become angry. And yet, even in our stubbornness, God gives us grace over and over again. His love is abundant, and he restores us to better than we were before. God didn't just heal Naaman’s skin, he made it “clean like that of a young boy,” 2 Kings 5:14. Graciously, God surrounded Naaman with people who could speak truth to him when he couldn’t see it for himself. They encouraged him to obey and step out in faith when pride would have otherwise been in his way. God wanted Naaman to experience more than just outward healing, and he desires the same for us. We may not have leprosy, but our hearts aren’t always healthy. Because of God’s grace, we can have a clean heart—one that knows and trusts the Lord, and with humility accepts his healing and grace.
Is there any place in your life where your pride may be stopping you from experiencing God’s healing?
Do you have people in your life who hold you accountable to what God says is true? Do you listen to them?