47. THE IMPORTANCE OF OBEDIENCEWhat really does God want from me?
|
|
What does God want from me?” the woman said in frustration. “I’m a good person. I mind my own business, I don’t harm anyone.”
She was angry to think that God wanted her to do something other than be “a good person”. Of course, according to her own definition. While the woman was expressing anger to God inappropriately, the question she asked is a good one for the true seeker of God. What does God want from me?
There are many answers to that question, but in this lesson we will look at just a few. Let us begin with a story that will help our under- standing.
Adnan was a tall, lanky man with dark eyes that stood out sharply from his bony tanned face. You would have expected him to be much younger than 74 years old by the color of his hair. Some even said that he dyed his hair but it wasn’t true. The true success of his youthful appearance lay in his genes, affability, positive attitude, and willingness to always learn something new.
Those qualities helped him go from being a shepherd’s son with a handful of sheep to a sugar factory owner. While his Mercedes and Blackberry Smartphone gave him the appearance of a modern man, there was much about Adnan that was still old-fashioned. For example, he expected his two sons to kiss his hand even though they carried the lion’s share of the workload at the factory these days. Not to mention Adnan still held the reins of the operation in his hands.
One day while sitting in his of ce drinking tea with friends, his secretary brought in a man wearing a worn plaid jacket that was hanging to one side as if there was something really heavy in one of the pockets. His shoulders were slouched forward so it made his emaciated frame look all the more fragile. His pants were so baggy you would think you could put someone else in there with him. He had a three-day beard, speckled with gray hairs. His mouth puckered because he had no teeth left. In his hands were a bunch of bright red roses.
Adnan sipped his tea and paused, building the suspense of his waiting friends. When he saw their interest he spoke to the old man who reeked of cigarette smoke.
“What is that there in your hands?”
“You asked for owers. I brought you owers just like you said.”
“Man, I told you bring violets, not roses.” Adnan replied.
“I know, but the roses looked good and women love roses. Your wife will like these better. Can I have my money now?”
Adnan’s friends were shocked at the boldness of this last sentence. Didn’t he understand who he was talking too? They waited to see what Adnan would do.
“Man I am not going to give you a kuruş for those roses. I spe- ci cally said that I wanted violets. You brought me roses which I didn’t ask for.”
The slovenly dressed man said, “What difference does it make, owers are owers. Are you going to give me the money or not?”
Adnan leaned back in his big leather chair and said: “I will give you money for violets and nothing else.”
With that, the strange visitor put the roses on the desk and with a disgusted look on his face said, “Fine then, take your roses.”
And then he left in a huff without taking any money.
Adnan’s friends looked at him with a puzzled look on their faces. Before they asked for an explanation, He just started to tell the story.
“I was on my way to work this morning. Just outside the factory at the traf c light was this beggar. He asked me for two lira. I said, ‘Look, it is better for you to have some healthy employment than to beg. If you do something for me, I will give you ve lira.’ His eyes got big and I said, ‘Go to the garden area out behind the cafeteria kitchen and bring me a bunch of violets.’ He said, ‘O.K.’ and he went to the garden and I went to my office. Then he comes in here with these roses. I didn’t want roses I wanted violets. He didn’t do what I told him.”
One of Adnan’s friends dared to interject, “Adnan, why did you reject the roses? Of course, he didn’t do what you asked him to do. But you still could have used the roses.”
“Today is my anniversary and I wanted those owers for my wife. We are going out for lunch. When I asked my wife to marry me I gave her violets, not roses. That guy came in here with this attitude like he knows what I should be doing. What the world doesn’t need is a proud beggar!”
Although to some people Adnan’s response may seem harsh, there is a truth in what he said. Sometimes, we can be like proud beg- gars who want to tell God that what we want is better than what He wants. If people didn’t assume they know more than God, the world would certainly be a better place.
We can start by reading 2 Kings chapter 5 verses 1-12:
In this lesson, we are going to look at one man’s struggle with, “what God wants.”
1 Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper. 2 And the Syrians had gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman's wife. 3 Then she said to her mistress, "If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy." 4 And Naaman went in and told his master, saying, "Thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel." 5 Then the king of Syria said, "Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel." So he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. 6 Then he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said, Now be advised, when this letter comes to you, that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy. 7 And it happened, when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy? Therefore please consider, and see how he seeks a quarrel with me." 8 So it was, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, "Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel." 9 Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha's house. 10 And Elisha sent a messen- ger to him,saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your esh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean." 11 But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, "Indeed, I said to myself, 'He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.' 12 "Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage.
Naaman had heard that there was a man in Israel who could heal him of leprosy. He came to his own conclusions as to how that should take place. He made a plan and expected that God would work in accordance to that plan. But God does not work according to our ideas always. He may have expectations of us that are not according to our own thinking. Many people exclaim,
“What does God want from me? I am a good person!”
What they are really claiming is that God should adhere to the stan- dard of expectation and righteousness that they themselves have set up. But is that what God really wants?
In our introductory story we had a beggar who wanted money. Then he encountered someone who could give him the money.
Unfortunately the beggar did what he thought was best instead of following the will of Adnan. But Adnan surprised the beggar because he had different expectations than what the beggar assumed they would be.
Who was really in control, the beggar or Adnan? Adnan was in con- trol, of course. Adnan had the money, he had the garden, the ower beds, everything. He also had a logical reason for wanting violets that the beggar didn't know. Adnan expected willing obedience. But the beggar was too proud to yield his will to the expectations of Ad- nan. He was so proud he was willing to go away empty handed.
So was Naaman the Syrian!
Naaman is really a beggar before God. He has no power over his illness. Gold and silver could not buy his health. But now Naaman thinks that God should accept his own efforts and gifts as “good enough” to get healed. When God says, “No” to the rivers in Syria, which were perhaps bigger and more beautiful than the Jordan, Naa- man is willing to walk out empty-handed like the beggar did from Adnan’s of ce. Let’s continue reading in 2 Kings chapter 5 verses 13 and 14:
13 And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, 'Wash, and be clean'?" 14 So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his esh was restored like the esh of a little child, and he was clean.
How wonderfully shocked Naaman must have been! The dreaded disease is gone! Perhaps he caressed his new clean skin again and again with his hands to help make his eyes believe what he was seeing. Perhaps he shouted with joy to his companions, "I am healed, I am healed!"
Perhaps he shouted, "Praise the Lord!" as well. What reaction would you have if God healed you from terminal cancer for example?
Imagine what was going through Naaman's mind. How would he be able to explain everything to his family and the king back home?
It is not according to our own ideas of righteousness or values that we can expect things from God. It is according to His power and ability to supply our need. It is also according to His expectations that we can approach Him. We are beggars before God. We cannot buy eternal life with our money. We can receive eternal life only on God’s terms. Let’s continue reading with 2 Kings 5 verses 15-19:
15 And he returned to the man of God, he and all his aides, and came and stood before him; and he said, "Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel; now therefore, please take a gift from your servant." 16 But he said, "As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will receive nothing." And he urged him to take it, but he refused. 17 So Naaman said, "Then, if not, please let your servant be given two mule-loads of earth; for your servant will no longer offer either burnt offering or sacrifice to other gods, but to the LORD. 18 "Yet in this thing may the LORD pardon your servant: when my master goes into the temple of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow down in the temple of Rimmon -- when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD please pardon your servant in this thing." 19 Then he said to him, "Go in peace." So he departed from him a short distance.
Naaman had not only been cleansed of leprosy, more importantly he had discovered the true God. There was joy and peace in his heart from nding the truth. But Naaman was a wise man and he knew that he would be returning to a land full of idolatry. He knew that he would have to live out his faith in a hostile environment. How could he do that?
One of the first problems he would encounter was with the king. The king would go into the temple of his god and bow down. When he did so, he would expect his servant Naaman to hold his arm so that he would not fall. Naaman did not want Elisha to think that he had returned to idol worship.
Elisha did not scold Naaman but told him to go in peace. The Spirit of God would teach Naaman what he would need to do with fam- ily and friends. Many people are concerned about what will happen when they begin to worship God in spirit and in truth. We see that God wants believers to love and respect their parents even though they may not accept their newfound faith. How should a believer re- late to the feasts and festivals of the family members if the believer doesn’t agree with them? Where does respect for parents over-reach and become disrespect for God’s commands? These are not easy questions. But if a new believer will seek God’s will in their life and surrender, He will show them the way. He will not leave them comfortless. Let’s nish by reading 2 Kings chapter 5 verses 20-27:
20 But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, "Look, my master has spared Naaman this Syrian, while not receiving from his hands what he brought; but as the LORD lives, I will run after him and take something from him." 21 So Gehazi pursued Naaman. When Naaman saw him running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him, and said, "Is all well?" 22 And he said, "All is well. My master has sent me, saying, 'Indeed, just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the mountains of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of sil- ver and two changes of garments.' " 23 So Naaman said, "Please, take two talents." And he urged him, and bound two talents of sil- ver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and handed them to two of his servants; and they carried them on ahead of him. 24 When he came to the citadel, he took them from their hand, and stored them away in the house; then he let the men go, and they departed. 25 Now he went in and stood before his master. Elisha said to him, "Where did you go, Gehazi?" And he said, "Your servant did not go anywhere." 26 Then he said to him, "Did not my heart go with you when the man turned back from his chariot to meet you? Is it time to receive money and to receive clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male and female servants? 27 "Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and your descendants forever." And he went out from his presence leprous, as white as snow.
Lies and pink lies are common in Turkey. “God will forgive,” they say.
But the lesson of Gehazi is for us. God expects honesty and truth in all that we do. Gehazi was a stumbling block to Naaman in his new faith. The favor of God cannot be purchased with money. It is received through willing obedience. Lying is not a minor sin. In the Ten Commandments, lying has it’s own place just like killing and stealing.5 The result of Gehazi's lying was rotten esh and scornful looks. He had leprosy the rest of his life.
What does God want? We have seen some things in this Bible lesson that God wants from us. We need to leave our expectations to one side and come to God on His terms. We need to understand that God’s terms are not a simple mechanical service. Consider this illustration.
Şevket was with his friends at the hospital waiting for his mother to get out of the exam room. While they were waiting Şevket took his friends to the canteen area where there was a food-dispensing machine.
“Look” he said to his friends, “I have a piece of steel that I found on the oor at the lathe shop. It is about the right size of a lira. Let’s put it in the machine and see if it takes it.”
Şevket put the steel slug in the machine and it worked. Out came a Fanta! With bold satisfaction Şevket said to his friends,
“I fooled that machine!”
God is not a food-dispensing machine in a hospital that doesn’t know the difference between a good coin and a slug. He is a living being with personality. We cannot fool Him by just bringing to Him gifts or offerings of our choosing. God desires willing obedience.
When God asks us to do something, there may be a reason for it that we don’t know. The beggar did not know why Adnan wanted violets and not roses. He should have brought violets. But there did not have to be a reason. Adnan had the money and the beggar had nothing. If Adnan wanted violets for no other reason than he wanted them that was suf cient reason for the beggar to bring violets. Did God choose Abraham because Abraham was better than everyone else? Did God choose Israel because Israel was better than everyone else? No. In life God may command and there may be a good reason for it that we don’t know. But on the other hand, the reason might also be that God wants to see if we will be loyal to His command and words. We are beggars and God is the provider. We can only ap- proach him on His terms and according to His expectations. But as Naaman discovered, God rewards those that diligently seek him.
Discussion Questions
1. When Naaman went home to his wife after dipping in the river, what do you think he told her?
2. Have you ever asked, “What does God want from me?” What do you think God really wants from you? How can you be certain?
3. People often think that God only wants them to be “good” and if they are He will take them to heaven. Could it be that God has a
different idea of what constitutes a “good person” than what they think? What would that be?
4. What is your attitude toward “little” sins like lying?
5. Are you willing to yield your life to the expectations of God?
6. In what ways are your beliefs differing from those around you? How will you maintain your beliefs without compromise and yet be
understanding and tolerant of those who understand God differently than you do?
5 Exodus 20: 13-16
She was angry to think that God wanted her to do something other than be “a good person”. Of course, according to her own definition. While the woman was expressing anger to God inappropriately, the question she asked is a good one for the true seeker of God. What does God want from me?
There are many answers to that question, but in this lesson we will look at just a few. Let us begin with a story that will help our under- standing.
Adnan was a tall, lanky man with dark eyes that stood out sharply from his bony tanned face. You would have expected him to be much younger than 74 years old by the color of his hair. Some even said that he dyed his hair but it wasn’t true. The true success of his youthful appearance lay in his genes, affability, positive attitude, and willingness to always learn something new.
Those qualities helped him go from being a shepherd’s son with a handful of sheep to a sugar factory owner. While his Mercedes and Blackberry Smartphone gave him the appearance of a modern man, there was much about Adnan that was still old-fashioned. For example, he expected his two sons to kiss his hand even though they carried the lion’s share of the workload at the factory these days. Not to mention Adnan still held the reins of the operation in his hands.
One day while sitting in his of ce drinking tea with friends, his secretary brought in a man wearing a worn plaid jacket that was hanging to one side as if there was something really heavy in one of the pockets. His shoulders were slouched forward so it made his emaciated frame look all the more fragile. His pants were so baggy you would think you could put someone else in there with him. He had a three-day beard, speckled with gray hairs. His mouth puckered because he had no teeth left. In his hands were a bunch of bright red roses.
Adnan sipped his tea and paused, building the suspense of his waiting friends. When he saw their interest he spoke to the old man who reeked of cigarette smoke.
“What is that there in your hands?”
“You asked for owers. I brought you owers just like you said.”
“Man, I told you bring violets, not roses.” Adnan replied.
“I know, but the roses looked good and women love roses. Your wife will like these better. Can I have my money now?”
Adnan’s friends were shocked at the boldness of this last sentence. Didn’t he understand who he was talking too? They waited to see what Adnan would do.
“Man I am not going to give you a kuruş for those roses. I spe- ci cally said that I wanted violets. You brought me roses which I didn’t ask for.”
The slovenly dressed man said, “What difference does it make, owers are owers. Are you going to give me the money or not?”
Adnan leaned back in his big leather chair and said: “I will give you money for violets and nothing else.”
With that, the strange visitor put the roses on the desk and with a disgusted look on his face said, “Fine then, take your roses.”
And then he left in a huff without taking any money.
Adnan’s friends looked at him with a puzzled look on their faces. Before they asked for an explanation, He just started to tell the story.
“I was on my way to work this morning. Just outside the factory at the traf c light was this beggar. He asked me for two lira. I said, ‘Look, it is better for you to have some healthy employment than to beg. If you do something for me, I will give you ve lira.’ His eyes got big and I said, ‘Go to the garden area out behind the cafeteria kitchen and bring me a bunch of violets.’ He said, ‘O.K.’ and he went to the garden and I went to my office. Then he comes in here with these roses. I didn’t want roses I wanted violets. He didn’t do what I told him.”
One of Adnan’s friends dared to interject, “Adnan, why did you reject the roses? Of course, he didn’t do what you asked him to do. But you still could have used the roses.”
“Today is my anniversary and I wanted those owers for my wife. We are going out for lunch. When I asked my wife to marry me I gave her violets, not roses. That guy came in here with this attitude like he knows what I should be doing. What the world doesn’t need is a proud beggar!”
Although to some people Adnan’s response may seem harsh, there is a truth in what he said. Sometimes, we can be like proud beg- gars who want to tell God that what we want is better than what He wants. If people didn’t assume they know more than God, the world would certainly be a better place.
We can start by reading 2 Kings chapter 5 verses 1-12:
In this lesson, we are going to look at one man’s struggle with, “what God wants.”
1 Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper. 2 And the Syrians had gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman's wife. 3 Then she said to her mistress, "If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy." 4 And Naaman went in and told his master, saying, "Thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel." 5 Then the king of Syria said, "Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel." So he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. 6 Then he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said, Now be advised, when this letter comes to you, that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy. 7 And it happened, when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy? Therefore please consider, and see how he seeks a quarrel with me." 8 So it was, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, "Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel." 9 Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha's house. 10 And Elisha sent a messen- ger to him,saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your esh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean." 11 But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, "Indeed, I said to myself, 'He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.' 12 "Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage.
Naaman had heard that there was a man in Israel who could heal him of leprosy. He came to his own conclusions as to how that should take place. He made a plan and expected that God would work in accordance to that plan. But God does not work according to our ideas always. He may have expectations of us that are not according to our own thinking. Many people exclaim,
“What does God want from me? I am a good person!”
What they are really claiming is that God should adhere to the stan- dard of expectation and righteousness that they themselves have set up. But is that what God really wants?
In our introductory story we had a beggar who wanted money. Then he encountered someone who could give him the money.
Unfortunately the beggar did what he thought was best instead of following the will of Adnan. But Adnan surprised the beggar because he had different expectations than what the beggar assumed they would be.
Who was really in control, the beggar or Adnan? Adnan was in con- trol, of course. Adnan had the money, he had the garden, the ower beds, everything. He also had a logical reason for wanting violets that the beggar didn't know. Adnan expected willing obedience. But the beggar was too proud to yield his will to the expectations of Ad- nan. He was so proud he was willing to go away empty handed.
So was Naaman the Syrian!
Naaman is really a beggar before God. He has no power over his illness. Gold and silver could not buy his health. But now Naaman thinks that God should accept his own efforts and gifts as “good enough” to get healed. When God says, “No” to the rivers in Syria, which were perhaps bigger and more beautiful than the Jordan, Naa- man is willing to walk out empty-handed like the beggar did from Adnan’s of ce. Let’s continue reading in 2 Kings chapter 5 verses 13 and 14:
13 And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, 'Wash, and be clean'?" 14 So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his esh was restored like the esh of a little child, and he was clean.
How wonderfully shocked Naaman must have been! The dreaded disease is gone! Perhaps he caressed his new clean skin again and again with his hands to help make his eyes believe what he was seeing. Perhaps he shouted with joy to his companions, "I am healed, I am healed!"
Perhaps he shouted, "Praise the Lord!" as well. What reaction would you have if God healed you from terminal cancer for example?
Imagine what was going through Naaman's mind. How would he be able to explain everything to his family and the king back home?
It is not according to our own ideas of righteousness or values that we can expect things from God. It is according to His power and ability to supply our need. It is also according to His expectations that we can approach Him. We are beggars before God. We cannot buy eternal life with our money. We can receive eternal life only on God’s terms. Let’s continue reading with 2 Kings 5 verses 15-19:
15 And he returned to the man of God, he and all his aides, and came and stood before him; and he said, "Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel; now therefore, please take a gift from your servant." 16 But he said, "As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will receive nothing." And he urged him to take it, but he refused. 17 So Naaman said, "Then, if not, please let your servant be given two mule-loads of earth; for your servant will no longer offer either burnt offering or sacrifice to other gods, but to the LORD. 18 "Yet in this thing may the LORD pardon your servant: when my master goes into the temple of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow down in the temple of Rimmon -- when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD please pardon your servant in this thing." 19 Then he said to him, "Go in peace." So he departed from him a short distance.
Naaman had not only been cleansed of leprosy, more importantly he had discovered the true God. There was joy and peace in his heart from nding the truth. But Naaman was a wise man and he knew that he would be returning to a land full of idolatry. He knew that he would have to live out his faith in a hostile environment. How could he do that?
One of the first problems he would encounter was with the king. The king would go into the temple of his god and bow down. When he did so, he would expect his servant Naaman to hold his arm so that he would not fall. Naaman did not want Elisha to think that he had returned to idol worship.
Elisha did not scold Naaman but told him to go in peace. The Spirit of God would teach Naaman what he would need to do with fam- ily and friends. Many people are concerned about what will happen when they begin to worship God in spirit and in truth. We see that God wants believers to love and respect their parents even though they may not accept their newfound faith. How should a believer re- late to the feasts and festivals of the family members if the believer doesn’t agree with them? Where does respect for parents over-reach and become disrespect for God’s commands? These are not easy questions. But if a new believer will seek God’s will in their life and surrender, He will show them the way. He will not leave them comfortless. Let’s nish by reading 2 Kings chapter 5 verses 20-27:
20 But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, "Look, my master has spared Naaman this Syrian, while not receiving from his hands what he brought; but as the LORD lives, I will run after him and take something from him." 21 So Gehazi pursued Naaman. When Naaman saw him running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him, and said, "Is all well?" 22 And he said, "All is well. My master has sent me, saying, 'Indeed, just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the mountains of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of sil- ver and two changes of garments.' " 23 So Naaman said, "Please, take two talents." And he urged him, and bound two talents of sil- ver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and handed them to two of his servants; and they carried them on ahead of him. 24 When he came to the citadel, he took them from their hand, and stored them away in the house; then he let the men go, and they departed. 25 Now he went in and stood before his master. Elisha said to him, "Where did you go, Gehazi?" And he said, "Your servant did not go anywhere." 26 Then he said to him, "Did not my heart go with you when the man turned back from his chariot to meet you? Is it time to receive money and to receive clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male and female servants? 27 "Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and your descendants forever." And he went out from his presence leprous, as white as snow.
Lies and pink lies are common in Turkey. “God will forgive,” they say.
But the lesson of Gehazi is for us. God expects honesty and truth in all that we do. Gehazi was a stumbling block to Naaman in his new faith. The favor of God cannot be purchased with money. It is received through willing obedience. Lying is not a minor sin. In the Ten Commandments, lying has it’s own place just like killing and stealing.5 The result of Gehazi's lying was rotten esh and scornful looks. He had leprosy the rest of his life.
What does God want? We have seen some things in this Bible lesson that God wants from us. We need to leave our expectations to one side and come to God on His terms. We need to understand that God’s terms are not a simple mechanical service. Consider this illustration.
Şevket was with his friends at the hospital waiting for his mother to get out of the exam room. While they were waiting Şevket took his friends to the canteen area where there was a food-dispensing machine.
“Look” he said to his friends, “I have a piece of steel that I found on the oor at the lathe shop. It is about the right size of a lira. Let’s put it in the machine and see if it takes it.”
Şevket put the steel slug in the machine and it worked. Out came a Fanta! With bold satisfaction Şevket said to his friends,
“I fooled that machine!”
God is not a food-dispensing machine in a hospital that doesn’t know the difference between a good coin and a slug. He is a living being with personality. We cannot fool Him by just bringing to Him gifts or offerings of our choosing. God desires willing obedience.
When God asks us to do something, there may be a reason for it that we don’t know. The beggar did not know why Adnan wanted violets and not roses. He should have brought violets. But there did not have to be a reason. Adnan had the money and the beggar had nothing. If Adnan wanted violets for no other reason than he wanted them that was suf cient reason for the beggar to bring violets. Did God choose Abraham because Abraham was better than everyone else? Did God choose Israel because Israel was better than everyone else? No. In life God may command and there may be a good reason for it that we don’t know. But on the other hand, the reason might also be that God wants to see if we will be loyal to His command and words. We are beggars and God is the provider. We can only ap- proach him on His terms and according to His expectations. But as Naaman discovered, God rewards those that diligently seek him.
Discussion Questions
1. When Naaman went home to his wife after dipping in the river, what do you think he told her?
2. Have you ever asked, “What does God want from me?” What do you think God really wants from you? How can you be certain?
3. People often think that God only wants them to be “good” and if they are He will take them to heaven. Could it be that God has a
different idea of what constitutes a “good person” than what they think? What would that be?
4. What is your attitude toward “little” sins like lying?
5. Are you willing to yield your life to the expectations of God?
6. In what ways are your beliefs differing from those around you? How will you maintain your beliefs without compromise and yet be
understanding and tolerant of those who understand God differently than you do?
5 Exodus 20: 13-16