
She was captured. taken from all she had known, everyone she had known, to a foreign land. A land full of strange god’s, full of things she had been bought up to believe were evil. Forced to serve in the household of her homeland’s enemies. The wife of one of the commanders of the same army who had come and taken her. The memory of being taken still woke her up in the night. And yet she had no choice but to stay and to serve.
The girl could have grown bitter. Forgotten her home, forgotten the God she had once trusted. After all he had left her alone.
The master of the house had his own troubles, a skin disease, leprosy, which would cause an excruciating and prolonged death.
The girl could have rejoiced in his misfortune, afterall he was a big part of all that was wrong in her life.
But she didn’t. “I don’t know why he doesn’t go to a prophet in my land, he will heal him.” And she a servant girl, who’s name was never recorded, set forth a chain of events which let to Naaman’s healing, one which changed his body and his soul.
The more I read this passage. The more amazing I think this girl is.
I know that this is but one incident, barely a paragraph, in a whole life, but I like to think that the faith of this young girl (possibly around twelve) shows us an insight into her character, and that there is much we can learn from her.
She was taken from her home land by an army. A young girl taken by a group of bloodthirsty men. I won’t say anymore than this, but we can assume that this was not a pleasant experience, and that that there is much that happened during her capture that was never recorded in scripture.
Compassion
First of all lets talk about her compassion for her master. Or perhaps we could call him captor. He was a major part of the machine which had taken her from her home. And yet, when he was facing sickness she did not rejoice. She sought to help him. She sought to see him healed and restored.
She was traumatised and alone in a foreign country. And yet she kept hold of her faith. We know this because when faced with a problem, she remembered her God, and a prophet who could heal her master.
Faith
This is quite incredible faith. How many people would have lost faith in the God of miracles, when they are themselves trapped in a nightmare. And yet, even though God hadn’t set her free from her circumstances, she trusted that he could
It is easy to have faith in a good God when we find ourselves in good circumstances. But what about when we are struggling. What about when we are trapped. To have faith in a God who can perform miracles, when he doesn’t seem to be doing one for us.
To be able to say God is good when life is bad takes incredible faith.
Humility
This girl probably had the least influence of anyone in that story, and yet she was willing to stand up, and say what she thought her master could do. I know that there are many times in my own life when I have failed to stand up in this way, because I was too scared to rock the boat.
You only have to glance at social media to see how many people long to have influence over others. But who is that influence really benefitting. I would argue that it is often only themselves: their ego, or their bank balance. And in a small way I’m sure we can see this in the way that we ourselves use social. But this girl used her influence to help somebody was was effectively her enemy. Who stood up for her beliefs when she was the only one who had them, and used her little influence to change a life. And we don’t even know what her name was.
Wow!
How I long to be like that.
Jesus tells us, at the start of his famous sermon on the mount.
God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.
Matthew 5:5 New Living Translation
In this world, it feels like we have to push our self to the front to get noticed, but the bible flips this on its head and tells us that God blesses the bumble.
Writing a blog it can be tricky to balance this. I don’t know if any other bloggers can relate, but as soon as I hit publish I am there refreshing my dashboard to see how many people have read my blog, and if I have any new followers or comments. I know I need to remember this girl who was compassionate, faithful and humble in these situations, and try and be a little bit more like her. What about you?
If you would like to read more about Naaman’s wife’s servant you can do in 2 kings: 5.
This is part of my series on women in the bible who’s names we don’t know. You can read more here.
Blessings,
Alice x
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