The story of Naaman has many lessons for us today. We read in these verses that Naaman was the commander-in-chief of the Syrian army; a man with both power and authority. He led his troops to many glorious victories, so he must have been a great strategist, with intellectual and logical abilities. By earthly standards, Naaman was a man at his peak: he had wordly abilities, fame, respect and authority.

However, Naaman had a big problem. He had leprosy. In that day and time, leprosy was an incurable disease, requiring total isolation from everyone, for fear of spreading the dreadful disease.

It's hard to be a leader when you have to be isolated from everyone. Can you imagine Naaman's distress? He was a highly respected man at the peak of his career, with important obligations and responsibilities, looked up to and obeyed by those under his command. Just imagine being in his position, then to be stricken with a terrible and highly contagious disease.

Among those who had been taken captive by the Syrian army was a young girl who had been given to Naaman's wife as a slave. The young slave girl, perhaps feeling compassion for her master's illness, told her mistress that the prophet in Samaria (which was Elisha) could heal Naaman if Naaman would go see him.

Naaman, perhaps desperate for healing, went to his king, and receieved permission to travel to Israel to see this prophet Elisha. Not only did the king give him permission, but also gave him a letter of introduction to the king of Israel. The letter introduced Naaman as a faithful servant, and asked that he be healed of his leprosy. Naaman started out on his journey, bearing gifts of gold, silver, and clothing to give either as payment for or in exchange for his healing.

The king of Israel wasn't too impressed with Naaman's letter. In fact, he was quite upset, thinking that this was a trick the Syrians were using as an excuse to invade Israel again. Elisha quickly reassured the king, however. He told the king, "Just send him to me, and then he will learn that there is a true prophet of God here in Israel." (v. 8)

When Naaman arrived at Elisha's house, after visiting the king of Israel. Elisha sent a messenger out to tell Naaman to go wash himself seven times in the Jordan River and he would be healed. That would seem to be simple enough, or perhaps too simple, for this angered Naaman very much and he stalked away, fuming.

Naaman fumed because Elisha hadn't even come out and spoken to him personally, but only sent a servant with a message. He fumed because he expected Elisha to perform some sort of rite or ritual, waving his hand over him and calling upon the Lord to heal him. Naaman fumed because he was told to wash in the Jordon river, when Syria had much finer rivers to bathe in. In fact, just like all of us tend to do, the more Naaman thought about it, the more he worked himself up into a rage.

His officers tried to reason with him, saying "Look, you would've done any great and difficult thing the prophet would have asked you, so why not just go ahead and obey him when he has told you to do something so simple?" So Naaman finally obeyed, and went and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan river. And when he did, he was healed, and his flesh became as healthy and undiseased as that of a little child.

So, what can we learn today from these few verses of Scripture?