Daily Lesson for September 25, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from 2 Kings chapter 5 verses 9 through 14:

 9So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house.10Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ‘Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.’11But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, ‘I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! 12Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?’ He turned and went away in a rage. 13But his servants approached and said to him, ‘Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, “Wash, and be clean”?’ 14So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.

There is Naaman, the Syrian general, all arrayed with his horses and chariots and military regalia.  Looking upon him from a distance he is the model of strength. But beneath the armament Naaman is falling apart -- literally. Naaman, the great General, is a leper.

The prophet says the disease may not be unto death. The prophet says there is cure -- an easy cure. All Naaman has to do is strip down, take off the armor, and go down and dip in the little, piddlin' Jordan River. 

Well, easy for some.

Humility is hard. We'd prefer to have God make a big deal of us. A thunderbolt, or a vision, or some Damascus Road experience. But most of the time it's just needing to strip down and go get bathed in the little creek.

I have a friend who has a lot going for himself except that he's killing himself with alcohol. He says he wants God to help him leave the bottle. He says he wants supernatural power. He says he's desperate. He says he's willing to do something hard to get free. I keep telling him what he needs to do is not hard; it's easy. All he has to do is to start going to an AA meeting every single day until he gets it. But that sounds too easy; besides the storefront is all run down looking. He's holding out for the rivers of Damascus. 

I tell you, humility is hard.