In All The Way

“In this thing the LORD pardon thy servant, that when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon thy servant in this thing.”  II Kings 5:18

There was a man named Naaman who was the chief military office of Syria’s army.  He was well respected by the king of Syria and had won great victories over Syria’s enemies, but that was because the LORD had allowed them to be victorious.  However, the people of Syria did not worship the one true God, but, instead, were idolaters.  Even as Naaman enjoyed the respect and honor bestowed upon him by the king, he had one major problem–he had leprosy, a debilitating disease.  Apparently the Syrians did not regard folks who were lepers like they did in Israel.  There lepers could not associate with others and were seen as unclean.

A young maiden of Israel who had been captured and was the handmaid to Naaman’s wife told his wife that there was a prophet in Samaria who could heal her husband.  After going in a roundabout way, Naaman finally made it to the prophet Elisha.  When Naaman reached Elisha’s doorstep, he thought the prophet would come out, wave his arms around, and do some dramatic form of healing, but Elisha did not come to the door.  He sent his servant who told Naaman to go and dip seven times in the Jordan River.  Naaman protested believing that would be beneath him to do such a thing.  His servants finally talked him into it, and he did as Elisha instructed by the word of the LORD.  After the seventh time coming up out of the water, Naaman was completely healed.  He went back to Elisha and told him that now he knew that God was the only true God.

Naaman promised to worship God alone and would not worship the false gods and images that he had worshipped heretofore.  However, there was one exception.  There would be times when Naaman would have to accompany the king of Syria into the house Rimmon in order for the king to worship the idols that were placed there.  Naaman saw no way out of this.  To refuse to bow before Syria’s gods would likely cause him to lose his job and even his life.  Thus in order to protect himself, he decided that he would bow before the idols as usual in the house of Rimmon and ask God to forgive him.  I can see his predicament, however, it’s almost like intentionally refusing to give up a sin and expecting God to overlook it.

There have been many believers in foreign countries who were faced with the choice to renounce their belief in Jesus Christ or face death, and they chose death.  Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 16:24-25 that “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it”.  The challenge is not to live peacefully among the worldly folks by keeping your faith in Christ to yourself.  That is not a challenge.  The real challenge is living out your faith in thought, word, and deed among the world’s scoffers, deniers, those who are indifferent, and before Christians who are Christians in name only.

Elisha did not rebuke Naaman because of his fear of his master, the king.  Elisha understood that Naaman was a brand new believer in the God of Israel and would have to grow in faith before he would understand that God would not be OK with one who worshipped Him and also worshipped other gods even if it was only pretend.  We do not hear of Naaman again until the New Testament when Jesus mentioned him in Luke 4:27, using him as an example of one who listened to God when so many others refused to listen just like many of those to whom He was speaking.  I don’t know how Naaman’s life turned out, but by Jesus using him as an example, I tend to think that he eventually removed himself from the influence of idolaters and followed God with his whole heart.