#DailyDevotion It’s Not What You Know But Who You Know
September 7th
Read 2 Kng 4:38—5:8
2Ki 5:1-8 ESV Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. (2) Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman’s wife. (3) She said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” (4) So Naaman went in and told his lord, “Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel.” (5) And the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing… (8) But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.”
You don’t have to force a witness situation. Those who belong to Christ will be brought to you oftentimes in the most peculiar ways. You don’t have to know a lot or be a genius to witness the good news to someone. You just need to know someone who does or is. Once it was told that Mr. Ford of Ford Motor Co. was being deposed at a trial and the lawyer grilling him was trying to show that Mr. Ford was ignorant. At the end of the questioning, Mr. Ford admitted that he did not know the answer to the question, but he had a red button on his desk and if he pressed it he would have an army of men at the ready to find out the answer if he needed it.
The Israelite slave girl did not have the ability to heal Naaman. But she knew of someone who could. The king of Israel couldn’t heal Naaman and he didn’t think about sending him to Elisha because he didn’t have faith and didn’t go to church like he should (if he did, perhaps he wouldn’t have been so distressed). The girl knew about Elisha and speaks out in love for her master so that he might be healed.
Sometimes in life we may be brought someone who needs to hear the gospel. Perhaps they have questions we can’t answer. Maybe we just don’t have to courage to speak even what we know. But if you are a Christian, then you are churched, and if you are churched then you have a pastor. The pastor ought to at least know what the Lord Jesus would have to say on anything of a spiritual nature as he has the Word of the Lord. It is his diet day in and day out. You should feel comfortable in bringing your friend, employer, or even your enemy there that they may know there is a pastor in the land.
And while the Lord doesn’t do a lot of healings through His pastors today, they have something even better. They have the word which can heal the heart, bring reconciliation between God and man, and give eternal life. That word is in Christ Jesus, God has taken whatever standing between you and your heavenly Father and laid it all upon Jesus on the Cross. It was nailed to it on Golgatha and buried in the garden tomb never to seen or heard of again.
Lord Jesus Christ, grant us the word to speak to those who need to hear it. Amen.