Good news is for sharing

So to finish off the story of the powerful man with an illness….he was cured. And came to see that there is only one true God –

Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel.  2 Kings 5:15

He wants to offer a gift for the healing he has received – but that’s the point of healing grace. It’s priceless. It is undeserved. It is free.

He wants to make up for all the times he has worshipped other gods. But the best way to make up for the wrongs of the past is to change going forward.

He does request a compromise though – when his master leans on his arm and bows before a foreign god, it will make Naaman look like he is bowing down too……

And Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, does get greedy though – he goes and demands a gift from Naaman on Elisha’s behalf and then lies to Elisha about it…….and then –

Then Gehazi went from Elisha’s presence and his skin was leprous—it had become as white as snow.  2 Kings 5:27

The story has gone full circle. Back to the place of leprosy.

And Elisha continues to perform miracles. When the company of prophets are building a meeting place, a borrowed axe head falls into the river Jordan and Elisha makes it float on the surface of the water so that it can be lifted out of the water.

Then he informs the king of Israel exactly what the king of Aram is planning so that the king of Aram is enraged thinking he has a mole in his entourage. Elisha prays that his own servant’s eyes will be opened to see a mighty army gathered around Elisha and that the Arameans’ eyes would be blinded so that he could lead them into the hands of the army of Israel. They are shown mercy and given a feast and sent on their way. Peace is restored.

Some time later, the king of Aram lays siege to Samaria and the resulting famine is so bad that the people end up eating their own children. The king is distraught and turns his anger on Elisha.

“May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today!”  2 Kings 6:31

Elisha knows in advance the king is coming (the bonus of being a prophet!). He promises that the siege will be lifted the next day and the people will be fed. The messenger cannot understand how (and because of his doubt, will never experience this deliverance for himself). We don’t have to understand how. We just have to trust. The how will unfold.

And the ‘how’ is a great story….

Four men with leprosy are dying of hunger at the city gates and decide they have nothing to lose by going into the Aramean camp…and when they get there, the camp is deserted, because God has caused the Arameans to hear a mighty army and flee for their lives. The lepers eat and drink all they can want in the deserted camp and then have this moment of realisation –

“What we’re doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go at once and report this to the royal palace.”  2 Kings 7:9

Good news is for sharing.

After initial suspicion, the people go out and plunder the Aramean camp. And everyone’s hunger is satisfied.

God has provided. This is good news.

Which leads us on to the question – why do we find it so hard to share the good news about what God has done and can do and will do? We have good news to share, don’t we? And yet we struggle to find the right time or the opportunity; we worry about offending; we’re scared we won’t find the right words; we’re afraid of looking a fool or embarrassing ourselves. We go on training courses and listen to talks about the best way to do it….when actually the best way is the most natural way….

Look at when we find out our son has got engaged or we’re going to became a grandma or our daughter has got excellent A level results or we lose a lot of weight on a diet that actually works or our husband lands the perfect job or our team wins a crucial match….we don’t struggle to share that kind of good news, do we? We shout it from the rooftops. We tell anyone who will listen. We actually can’t keep this good news to ourselves even if we wanted to- it bursts out of us.

A couple of months ago, someone had a go at me for going on about running all the time – ‘you’ve become an evangelist for running!’. That’s because I love it and it works for me and I want everyone else to discover the joy…and I can’t keep this good news in and I passionately want to encourage everyone to give it a go…….so yes, I am an evangelist for running…and am I an evangelist for God with the same passion?

I am an evangelist for living life to the full – that is good news and that is what God wants for each one of us, I believe – living every moment to the full, bringing our best to every situation, living every moment as an opportunity to show love and grace……I just struggle with the words, I think…..words like Christian and God and faith have been so misused and abused and misrepresented, that I worry that just by saying them, I will be prejudged and stereotyped before I have a chance to explain myself……

Anyway, this is all food for thought for the day ahead…..what is the good news that you will discover in this day and how will you share it?