Naaman's Servant Girl - Seeking the Cure, Finding the Christ

The Servant Girl

Living in a very difficult situation was a little girl who had been kidnapped from Israel. The Bible is clear that she’s not just a girl, she’s a “little” girl, meaning that she is probably younger than ten. Having four little girls I am crushed to think of how her father and mother must have felt having lost her. We know the evil of the world and what often happens to slave girls; it was no different in Naaman’s day, and they must have worried themselves sick.

She was probably scared, angry, hopeless, distraught, and homesick for some or most or all of the time. But she had been raised in the fear and the admonition of the Lord.

She didn’t know it yet, but in the midst of her absolutely impossible situation, she was about to be used by God to start one of the most amazing redemption stories in all of history.

One of my happiest days was when my little six-year-old girl stood before a church business meeting to open us in our devotion and flawlessly quoted,

I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. ~ Galatians 2:20

I would hope that if my daughter were in such a hopeless situation, she would set her hope in her God and be a blessing to her captors. Heaven forbid that I ever have to find out, but undoubtedly some families and some children will find out.

Reasons to Keep Quiet

This little girl and her family did have to find out. She was serving Naaman’s wife and heard (and/or smelled) of his plight. If she were living in bitterness and hatred towards the Syrians, and especially towards the man who led the raid into her homeland and carried her off, she could have sealed Naaman’s fate. How easy it would have been for her to scream out, “Serves him right! I hope he dies a long painful agonizing horrendous death and burns in hell for what he has done to me and to my family and to all of Israel!”

Or she could have kept her mouth shut. The blessing of God could have been safely buried in her heart and no one would have been the wiser. John Calvin declared,

If the gospel be not preached, Christ is, as it were, buried.

She would not have known about Jonah since Jonah was still years from being born and had not yet refused to bring the blessing of God to the Ninevites. But her story could have been similar, this little girl could have said, “I would rather die than see Naaman healed or helped! The promises of God belong only to Israel and I will not share them with anyone, especially not him!”

She could have kept quiet in respect for pluralism. She could have seen them worshipping Rimmon and thought that their god worked for them and who was she to challenge? Who was she to tell the Syrians that their god was a product of their imagination at best and a manifestation of the devil at worst?

Or she could have opted to freeze in fear. What gave her the authority to speak? Would you be worried about being punished for bringing up the God of Israel in the midst of his enemies?

God’s Redemptive Work in Suffering

How often is the worst thing that can happen to you the best thing that can happen for Christ’s kingdom? I certainly do not wish for anyone to be kidnapped or imprisoned or held against their will, but nevertheless, I do want God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

We can look at Hadassah (also known as Esther) and Mordecai for a similar story of a girl who was thrust into the opportunity to seek the welfare of an enemy nation. She took her life in her hands to seize the opportunity she had been given (Esther 4:14–16). Another question to ask in heaven, “Was Hadassah bolstered and emboldened by this little girl in Naaman’s house? Would we have the book of Esther without this little girl’s faithfulness and example?” I imagine Hadassah had known about this little girl from the time she could understand the story.

We could also look at Joseph who spent years in prison before God used the evil that had been meant against him to save many (Genesis 50:20).

Or we could look at Richard Wurmbrand who was thrown into a Romanian prison for standing against the Communist Party and defying the churches that said communism could be reconciled with the doctrines of Christ. Wurmbrand led several prisoners and at least one guard to Christ while in prison, and summarized his time this way,

It was strictly forbidden to preach to other prisoners. It was understood that whoever was caught doing this received a severe beating. A number of us decided to pay the price for the privilege of preaching, so we accepted their terms. It was a deal; we preached and they beat us. We were happy preaching. They were happy beating us, so everyone was happy.

Or look at Richard Allen who was a slave owned by Stokley Sturgis. After Allen became a Christian, he witnessed to Sturgis and invited Methodist preachers to preach to all on the plantation. Through all of the evils of slavery, Allen was able to lead Sturgis to Christ and both will be brothers for all of eternity.

Light in the Darkness

This little girl only gets three verses in all the Bible, but she very well may be my favorite prophet. If you were to go outside and light a candle at noon, no one would be able to tell that it was lit unless you pointed it out. But if you wait until midnight on a moonless night, that single candle would illuminate its surroundings and be visible for miles.

Paul, in a similar circumstance would say,

“I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.” ~ Philippians 1:12–14

Sometimes the worst thing that can happen to you is the best thing that can happen to you. The first church where I ever served on staff was filled with wonderful saints, scholars, and evangelists. But then our pastor was given a severe cancer prognosis. He was told by his doctor to go home and get his affairs in order because he had six months to live. When he resigned as pastor the church imploded because of a lot of reasons, not least of which the elders had quietly asked a fraudulent counselor–who had contributed to eight divorces and married the wife from the eighth–to leave the church and then they had discreetly covered it all up. As hundreds of faithful Christians left that church they were welcomed into many fledgling and struggling churches in the area. To this day I am sure that the church universal was strengthened because God shut that one church down instead of leaving it to thrive as the only faithful local church in the area. The pastor, now sixteen years later, is still alive and thriving and pointing people to Christ at a different church, despite him having a non-fatal heart attack during the writing of this book.

The little girl from this story was not where she wanted to be, not where she would have chosen to be, not where she prayed to be, but she was where God was using her for his glory, her good, and the salvation of many. I wish we knew more of her story after this event, but that is another question to ask in glory.

Point to the Healer

But dear reader, notice this: she doesn’t overstep her authority. She could have said, “What he needs to do is go plunge himself in the Jordan seven times, or maybe he could try the Abana or Pharpar.” Instead, she points him to someone she knows can help.

And how does she know about Elisha? I imagine after he raised a little boy from the dead that everyone–especially the boys and girls who were friends with him and other Jewish children roughly his same age–knew all about that story. John tells us that the church will overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the power of their testimony (Revelation 12:11). Let this little girl be a lesson to you to preach the Word and tell the story of how God has worked in your life and the lives of your fellow believers.

Dear reader, are you where you want to be? Are you where God wants you to be? You may be setting the stage and being used in the hand of your Saviour to be the means for someone else’s salvation. Would you trade that for comfort? I should hope not. Will you complain in your captivity? Or will you believe and act on,

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:16–19

Declare with Charles Haddon Spurgeon, “I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me on the rock of ages!”

Don’t get out preached by a little girl in a hopeless situation. You have a fuller picture of who Jesus is than she did, but you can’t have a fuller hope.