Hello my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
Have you ever struggled, even a little bit, with GREED? It can destroy a person, a family, a community, or even a nation. Yesterday we saw how ANGER can blind a person from hope filled opportunities before them! Naaman almost missed out on the cleansing from leprosy that Elisha had promised would be his if he washed himself in the Jordan river.
Today, let’s see how GREED nearly destroyed another man in this story, Gehazi, Elisha’s assistant. If you’ve been walking with us, you know the story is found in 2 Kings 5 in the Bible and the setting is the city of Samaria in the northern kingdom of Israel, about 840bc.
I left you yesterday standing alongside Elisha, the prophet of God, and his servant Gehazi while they watched healed Naaman and his entourage head up the road toward Damascus, Syria. You’ll remember as Naaman headed back to Damascus he was taking with him something from Israel: two mules loaded with Israel dirt, for he planned to build an altar and worship only the God of Israel.
Also, Naaman was leaving in Israel two things he had brought with him from Damascus, his leprosy and his anger! But something terrible was brewing in Gehazi’s heart. The record says: “Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said to himself, ‘My master was too easy on Naaman by not accepting from him the gift he brought… I will run after him and get something from him.” (2 Kings 5:20) Oh my do you see it my friends?
A root of greed and perhaps selfish ambition is growing inside Gehazi and tempting him to take action that might seem logical and normal to most people, but not a man of God like Elisha.
Do you know what the antidote to GREED is my friends?
Two things, first CONTENTMENT in what God has provided you, confident that God knows your needs even better than you do and God has all the resources in the world, thus can more than fully satisfy any need you have.
And the second antidote to greed is TRUST that God will provide for you what HE knows will be for your best and for His glory.
Ponder those two antidotes carefully. Can you see how, if they permeate your heart, you will never be tempted with GREED? And did you know the result of a person filled with CONTENTMENT and TRUST in God will view ALL they have as God provided and they will then discover GENEROSITY is by far more enjoyable and even exciting than self-pampering with all that greed might acquire.
I urge us to ponder that deeply for a moment and see if you can identify where you are on the continuum of Greed, Contentment, Trust and Generosity??
In the 2 Kings 5 verses which follow we read a sad story about Gehazi, Elisha’s assistant. Greed grew very rapidly in heart and he did in fact go after Naaman’s entourage, catching up with them not far outside Samaria. When Naaman saw him running toward them he assumed there was a problem with Elisha, and being so grateful for all God had done for him in cleansing him from leprosy, Naaman stopped his entourage, got down from his chariot to find out what the problem was!
That shows me a tremendous change of heart from the angry man Naaman was before. Gehazi answered that all was well with Elisha, which was true, but then Gehazi’s greed began to spread in his heart like a cancer, and Gehazi told Naaman a great lie which not only implicated Gehazi but also cast a great shadow on Elisha, who evidently didn’t even know Gehazi had left home on this deceitful mission.
Gehazi said to Naaman: “My master, Elisha, sent me to say, ‘Two young men from the company of prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.” (2 Kings 5:22)
Now from Naaman’s perspective, that made perfect sense. Elisha was asking nothing for himself, just as he had said when Naaman offered him gifts. But Gehazi’s greed was manipulating Elisha’s good reputation and his humility with this lie. There had not been any young men who came to Elisha, Gehazi was seeking something for himself but doing so in the name of Elisha. Elisha’s reputation was so significantly good, Naaman’s response indicates he felt honored to be of help to Elisha in doing God’s work. “By all means, take two talents of silver in two bags, with two sets of clothing.”
Do you see Naaman’s generosity, which seems to be the result of his deep gratitude for what God has done for him both medically and spiritually? Evidently all that Naaman gave was too much for Gehazi to carry so Naaman sent two servants with Gehazi carrying Naaman’s generosity. But that presented Gehazi with a problem, for if Elisha saw them Gehazi’s greedy lie would be discovered. So after a short walk Gehazi thanked them, took all the gifts from them and sent them back to rejoin Naaman’s caravan, while he continued on, burdened down with all that Naaman had blessed him with. I don’t know exactly where Gehazi went to hide all Naaman’s generosity, but he certainly didn’t take it home to Elisha’s house with him.
Let’s pause a few seconds. Can you remember the last time you told a lie and how you felt in the hours or maybe days after, before you corrected the lie? King David wrote Psalm 32:3,4 describing how he felt during the many months he was living the lie about Bathsheba and both his adultery with her and his scheme for her husband to die in battle. (2 Samuel 11) David describes that gut wrenching time of living with his lie in these words: “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy on me, my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.”
I live in a place where the summer months can be stifling. Temperatures in the high 90’s or even over 100 with very high humidity, I understand what David is describing. Can you remember a time in your life when Psalm 32:3,4 describes how you felt? And you knew the cause was not outdoor high temperatures and humidity, the cause was you were living with your lie, maybe even several and it was consuming you!
I think we need to pause right here and deeply reflect. Are there any lies still haunting you my friends? David, of course, finally found his answer in his repentance, and he writes: “Then I acknowledged my sin to You, O God, and I did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.’ And You forgave me the guilt of my sin!.. Blessed is the person whose transgressions are forgiven…Blessed is the person whose sin the LORD does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit!” (Psalm 32:5,1,2)
Oh my friends I urge us to deeply consider the powerful truth of God’s forgiveness available to all of us because Jesus went to the cross and paid with His life for your lies and mine! Here’s a powerful song of repentance to help us worship and pray; and I’ll meet you right back here tomorrow and we’ll see what happened in Gehazi’s deceitfulness.
Today’s Scripture: 2 Kings 5:19-24.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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