The NIV 365-Day Devotional Reading Planનમૂનો

Naaman’s Slave Girl

Offering Words of Hope and Healing

She flashed into the story and out again, making a single suggestion. Evidently her words were significant enough that God included them in his Word. Raiders from Aram had ripped a young Israelite girl from her home and family. The resulting anguish and grief were not recorded, but the terror and pain were surely felt. She landed in the household of a highly regarded man named Naaman, the commander of Aram’s army, serving Naaman’s wife.

The king of Aram admired Naaman because “through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy” (2 Kings 5:1). The word leprosy was used for a wide variety of skin diseases, and we don’t know which form it took with Naaman. But any kind of “leprosy” was unwelcome and potentially fatal.

Even though Naaman was her foreign master, the Hebrew girl felt sorry for him, which may indicate that she was treated well in his home. One day she said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy” (2 Kings 5:3).

That’s it! That’s all she said. But her mysterious, surprising words of hope prompted Naaman to seek out the prophet Elisha in Israel, and Naaman was healed by the power of God. The fact that Naaman followed her advice may also indicate that she had garnered the admiration of Naaman and his wife by her godly service.

You, too, can speak words of hope and healing to others through godly service, in spite of your own pain and anguish.

Taken from Fulfilled