2 Kings 5:1- “Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper”.

I have only seen the depiction of leprosy through pictures.  The pictures were enough to convince me to pray that I will never be infected with this horrible disease.  Naaman was in quite a predicament.  He was a great man who was mighty in valour “but” he was a leper.  The fact that he was a leper certainly doesn’t disqualify him as being great “but” it certainly does bring a negative light to his life.  Leprosy was the most humiliating disease of that time.  It was nasty, ugly, awful, and many other things all describing a horrible condition.  There were laws in place to protect the “clean” people from those with leprosy.  Naaman was very blessed because God provided a way for him to be cleansed.  In verse 10 Naaman goes to see Elisha and the message is given for Naaman to go and wash himself in the Jordan seven times and his flesh would be restored.   Naaman went away angry because his “expectations” were not met concerning what he thought Elisha would do for him.  Thank goodness Naaman had some loyal servants who persuaded him to do what he was told.  Naaman went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan and his flesh was restored, he was cleansed.

Through this story I pray we will grow in our understanding that before we met God we were all like lepers.  We were infected with the disease of sin.  Our lives were ugly, nasty, awful and many other things all revealing the horrible condition of sin.  Like Naaman we were very blessed as God provided a way for us to be cleansed.  That way would come through the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Acts 22:16-“And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.”  We were cleansed completely and now it is our mission to persuade everyone who is suffering from the horrible disease of sin to believe God and do what He has told them to do to be cleansed.