2 Kings 5: The Dirty water Miracle

Have you ever mistaken a mud pie for a masterpiece? On the Bible Breakdown Podcast, I, Pastor Brandon, share a deliciously deceptive 'dirt cake' story that paves the way to understanding Naaman's incredible transformation in "The Dirty Water Miracle." Journey with us through 2 Kings chapter 5 as we uncover the remarkable account of this valiant warrior's struggle with leprosy and his encounter with a humble servant girl whose simple advice leads to a divine intervention. We dissect the layers of this narrative, revealing the pivotal role of faith and obedience in the face of the unexpected. It's a tale that teaches us the extraordinary can emerge from the ordinary, and sometimes, the answers we seek are found in the places we least expect.

Prepare your hearts for an eye-opening discussion in "Appearances Can Be Deceiving," where we examine the notion that God's work in our lives often occurs behind the scenes. This episode strips back the facade to reveal the power of prayer and the ripple effect of adhering to God's gentle nudges. Reflecting on Elisha's experiences in 2 Kings chapter 6, we emphasize the ever-present aid of the Almighty, even when hidden from our sight. Through these biblical events, we glean insights on maintaining faith amidst trials, and we celebrate the victories that can unfold when we align our actions with divine will. So tune in and embrace the possibility that the transformative miracles you seek might just be waiting in the dirty waters of life.

Contact us- 

Ask a Question
Send Encouragement

Take a Next Step-

SOAP Bible Study Method.
Bible Reading Plan.
Free Weekly Newsletter.

Socials-

Facebook.
Instagram.
X.
YouTube.

The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:01

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. First king, excuse me, second king, chapter five, and today's title is the Dirty Water Miracle. The Dirty Water Miracle. This is going to be awesome, it's going to be great, and I can't wait to get into it. As always, though, first, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share and subscribe to YouTube channel. Make sure you leave us a five star review on the podcast. You are forever and always my favorites, mainly to aggravate the YouTube people, and, as always, we gather together at the Facebook group Bible Breakdown Discussion, and the more we dig, the more we find, and this one's going to be a fun one. So, if you have your Bible, you want to open up with me to second kings, chapter five.

Speaker 1 0:42

Remember, the overall theme of second kings is actions have consequences. I mean, I like to think about that in a bad way. You know we say that almost as a threat. You know your actions have consequences, but it's also a good thing. Our actions are positive actions. Our acts of faith, believing in God for great things, taking steps toward healing and freedom and wholeness, they have positive consequences, or in that way we would say effects, and we're going to see that today in a situation with a guy named Naaman. And what reminds me of is if you ever you ever had something that looked terrible but turned out to be great, maybe in different areas of your life or you know something like that, but one of them for me was a dessert.

Speaker 1 1:24

One time, once upon a time, someone told me I was at a church event and a church events when I was growing up we get away with it. We always had some kind of food, okay. And I was at this place and there was this, this spread of food, and over on the dessert table, which can we get this out of the way? I always started there. I couldn't understand why people would start in the regular food, you know, table. I started with the dessert table because we got to get the important stuff out of the way first, right? So I go over there and there was the most disgusting looking. Just, it looked like dirt. Okay, it did, it looked terrible. And, sure enough, I asked somebody what is that? And someone said, oh, that's dirt cake. Dirt, dirt cake. Okay, all right. Well, that's something I'm not going to get. Oh, no, it's great. You better hurry, that stuff's going to be gone. No, they kept after me until I actually remember getting a little bit of it on my plate.

Speaker 1 2:19

So I go and this is what I used to do I go get my dessert plate, put it on the table. Then I'd go back to the other and then get the rest of my food when I get ready to go back over there. You know, I'm really glad I did, cause a lot of dessert was already gone, but the dirt cake, the bowl I had in there, it was empty. I was like, okay, well, everybody's disgusting around here. Fine, well, I go over and I start, of course, with my dessert first and I try some of this dirt cake. It turns out it was amazing. I had Oreos and whipped cream and pure goodness in it. I don't know. It was amazing. And I learned quickly that just because it looks terrible doesn't mean it tastes terrible. And for a long time that was my favorite dessert. Couldn't get enough of it. You can have all you want, everything else, just give me all the dirt cake you can have.

Speaker 1 3:03

Sometimes appearances can be deceiving, right? Well, we're going to see that today in a very different way when it comes to naming, not only on something good on his part, but then something negative on his part that appearances can be deceiving, but he's going to experience what we're going to call a dirty water miracle. Let's read God's word in 2 Kings, chapter 5, verse 1. That says this the king of Aram had a great admiration for Naaman, the commander of his army, because through him the Lord had given Aram great victories. But though Naaman was a mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy.

Speaker 1 3:39

At this time the Armenian raiders had invaded the land of Israel and among their captives was a young girl who had been given to Naaman's wife as a maid. One day the girl said to her mistress I wish my master would go see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal him of his leprosy. So Naaman told the king what the young girl from Israel had said go and visit the prophet. The king of Aram told him I will send a letter of introduction for you to take to the king of Israel. So Naaman started out carrying his gifts of 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold and 10 sets of clothing. The letter to the king of Israel said with this letter I present my servant Naaman and I want you to heal him of his leprosy. Can you imagine? Alright, let's read.

Speaker 1 4:24

When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes in dismay and said Am I God that I can give life or take it away? Why is this man asking me to heal someone with leprosy? And I see, I can see, rather, that this is just him trying to pick a fight with me. Pause, can you imagine? I mean, he doesn't know, he didn't say oh. By the way, there's been this whole situation where this young lady has come and spoken about a prophet Never been in a situation when someone only gives you half the information and you panic. That's exactly what this king is doing. He's like wait a minute, what am I supposed to do with this guy with leprosy? But watch what happens. Verse 8,.

Speaker 1 5:00

But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes into smay, he sent a message saying why are you so upset? Send Naaman to me and he will learn that there is a true prophet here in Israel. So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and waited at the door of Elisha's house, but Elisha sent a messenger out to him with this message Ah, go wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River and your skin will be restored and you'll be healed of your leprosy. But Naaman became angry and stalked away. Well, I thought he would certainly come out to meet me, he said I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord, his God, to heal me. Aren't the rivers in Damascus, the Abana and the Paphar, better than any of the rivers of Israel? Why shouldn't I wash in them and be healed? So Naaman turned and went away in rage, but his officers tried to reason with him and said Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, when you have done it, so should you certainly obey him when he asked you to simply go and wash and be cured. Pause Now.

Speaker 1 6:09

One of the things that we even know today is that the Jordan River today is dirty, very muddy, very, very dark soil, and so it's not a very clear place. You can't see to the bottom. It's just a dirty river. And so Naaman's looking and he's going I don't want to go washing that pit. I could have went and got one of these other ones, but his officers are saying wait a minute. If he asked you to go kill 100 men, you'd have done it. All he's asking you to do is go take a bath. Why don't we go take a bath? So verse 14 says so.

Speaker 1 6:41

Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times and as the man of God had instructed him, and his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child and he was healed. Then Naaman and his entire party went back to find the man of God and they stood before him and Naaman said Now I know that there is no God in all the world except Israel, so please accept a gift from your servant. But Elisha replied as surely as the Lord live, whom I serve, I will not accept any gifts. And though Naaman urged him to take a gift, elisha refused. So the Naaman said All right, but please allow me to load two of my mules with earth from this place and I will take it back home with me. And from now on I will never again offer burnt offerings or sacrifices to any other God except the Lord. However, may the Lord pardon me in this one thing when my master, the king, goes into the temple of the God, ramon to worship there and leans on my arm. May the Lord pardon me when I bow to go in peace, he said. So Naaman started home again.

Speaker 1 7:46

And so we see that underneath all of this was a man who was sincere. And so when God healed him, he said I'm going to turn my heart toward the Lord. And so appearances can be deceiving. And he looked at the Jordan River and he was like, not interested. But there was power in the obedience. And so when he obeyed the word of the Lord, he went and it was healed. So we see first of all two things where appearances were deceiving. The water was ugly, but through obedience it became a beautiful thing. We see Naaman who, even though he was from this paganistic place, doing paganistic thing, he had a pure heart, and then he actually turned his heart toward God. The appearance of this man who is staunchly, possibly, against the Lord actually was ready to believe. So he turned his heart toward God. And now we're going to see one more time when appearances were deceiving.

Speaker 1 8:40

Verse 20 says this but Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said to himself my master should not have let this Armin get away without accepting any of his gifts. As surely as the Lord lives, I will chase after him and get something from him. So Gehazi set off after Naaman. When Naaman saw Gehazi running after him, he climbed down from his chariot and went to meet him. Is everything all right? Naaman asked yes, gehazi said but my master has sent me to tell you that two young prophets from the hill country of Ephraim have just arrived. He would like 75 pounds of that silver and two sets of clothing to give to them. By all means, take twice as much silver. Name and assistant. And he gave two sets of clothing and tied up the money in two bags and sent two of his servants to carry the gifts to Gehazi.

Speaker 1 9:27

But when they arrived at the citadel, gehazi took the gifts from the servants and sent them in back and then he went and he hid the gifts inside the house. When he went in to see his master, elisha asked him when have you been, gehazi? I haven't been anywhere. He replied. But Elisha asked him Don't you realize that I was there in spirit when a haemun stepped down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to receive money and clothes, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and cattle or male and female servants? Because you have done this, you and your descendants will suffer from Naaman's leprosy forever.

Speaker 1 10:05

Gehazi left the room. He was covered with leprosy. His skin was as white as snow. So now we see another time where appearances can be deceiving. Well, it looked like a man of God who was following God, actually had greed in his heart and had a way of finding a self out.

Speaker 1 10:22

So what can we take away from this chapter? Appearances can be deceiving. Many times. Something that looks good is actually bad, and many times, something that looks bad is something good. And so what do we do with the muddy water? What do we do when we have something that God's telling us to do but it looks bad?

Speaker 1 10:42

Well, what do we do? We obey the Lord. What do we do when God tells us every day I want you to meet me and I want you to read my word. Well, god, I don't like to read. I don't understand it. It doesn't make any sense to me. I just don't want to. What do we do? We do it anyway. What do we do when God says I want you to take some time every day and I want you to talk to me, god, I don't know what to pray. I don't know what to do. It's a little discouraging sometimes because I feel like it's kind of a one-way conversation, and I don't want to. What do we do? We do it anyway. I want you to walk away from that addiction. Walk away from that sin. Say no to the pornography. Say no to that excessive alcohol. Say no to the unforgiveness inside of your heart. Say no to those things. Turn your heart away from those. Forgive the person when they ask. Put up proper boundaries, but walk in that forgiveness, walk in that generous give to others. God, I just don't want to. It's dirty, it's dirty water to me. I don't want to. There's other things I could do. God, I'd rather not do that, but God tells us to do it.

Appearances Can Be Deceiving

Speaker 1 11:45

The power is in our obedience. When we obey and we read God's word, when we obey and we pray and we talk to Him, when we obey and we walk in forgiveness. When we do that, we're going to find there's miracles there, just like they said to Naaman. Wouldn't you have done something if God had asked you to kill 100 men? God says you want to get close to me, read my word every day. You want to get close to me, pray and talk to me. You want healing for that wound in your heart? Start walking in forgiveness. Well, I mean, wouldn't you do something more difficult if God said do something like ridiculous? He says read, pray, forgive and watch what I do. The power is in the obedience.

Speaker 1 12:29

When we obey the Lord, we're going to find that appearances can be deceiving. What you think is reading the chapter out of a book is actually God opening up your eyes to see His goodness. What you think is talking to the air is actually communing and fellowshiping with the king of the universe. What you think is well, I'm going to, I'm going to start walking in forgiveness and act like you know that it's going to work, but it's not going to work. So that's going to find out, as you're going to set a captive free only to find out that the captive was you. When we start to do that, we realize that appearances are deceiving. And when we obey, we're going to get what we might call a dirty water miracle, and that is out of something simple we're going to see something beautiful and profound. What simple act of obedience that you don't think is going to work anyway is God telling you to do? If you will, you might find that appearances are deceiving and God's got something amazing he wants to do in your life.

Speaker 1 13:26

Let's pray together. God, thank you so much for today. Thank you that you are with us more than we can imagine. I pray, god, as you prompt us to take simple acts of obedience, we will have the courage and the boldness to take that next step, knowing that if we will take the next step, you will be with us through every single step. Thank you, god, that you're doing more in us than we can imagine. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen, amen. Well, don't forget, there was a time in Elisha's life when he was surrounded by enemies and his assistant was worried. But he wasn't worried. Why? Because in 2 Kings, chapter 6, the Bible says Elisha prayed oh Lord, open his eyes and let him see. And when the Lord opened his eyes, he saw the armies of God surrounding him. My prayer is no matter what you face in your life today, god will open your eyes to see that he is with you more than you can imagine. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for 2 Kings, chapter 6.