FRIDAY 29th MAY 2020

Good morning friends,

Since the Covid 19 virus arrived and lock down began, all of us have been asked to comply with a new set of instructions in order to keep ourselves and others as safe as possible. Some of these new regulations easier to keep than others.

One such instruction is on how often, and how long for, we must wash our hands.

Step 1: Wet hands with running water

Step 2: Apply enough soap to cover wet hands

Step 3: Scrub all surfaces of the hands – including back of hands, between fingers and under nails – for at least 20 seconds.

Step 4: Rinse thoroughly with running water

Step 5: Dry hands with a clean cloth or single-use towel

There are also instructions about when we must do this.....................which I don’t need to go into, you know it well enough by now.

So, I wonder how many times you washed your hands yesterday in order to be cleansed of anything that would make you or others unwell.

As ever there is nothing new under the sun............and we find an account in the OT of a man who was given specific instructions on washing in order to be cleansed of a disease that was blighting his life.

That man was Naaman, and you will find his healing account in 2 Kings chapter 5.

“Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army, was highly respected and esteemed by the king of Syria, because through Naaman the Lord had given victory to the Syrian forces. He was a great soldier, but he suffered from a dreaded skin disease. In one of their raids against Israel, the Syrians had carried off a little Israelite girl, who became a servant of Naaman's wife. 3 One day she said to her mistress, “I wish that my master could go to the prophet who lives in Samaria! He would cure him of his disease.”

Naaman is simply told by Elisha to bathe seven times in the river Jordan. Naaman refuses, thinking rivers in his own home land would be better than the Jordan in this foreign land of Israel. He begins returning home, but his servants beg him to just “do it”. He reconsiders and bathes seven times as Elisha had told him and his flesh was restored and became like that of a young boy.

This account is full of many twists and turns as you will see if you read the whole chapter, but what is clear to me is this.

Interesting isn’t it that it was through the testimony and encouragement of lowly servants that Naaman heard about God.

Naaman was a proud man, but also a man in great need. In the beginning he was reluctant to obey the instructions given by Elisha. It was only when he humbled himself, that the grace of God fell upon him and he was healed.

We all stand in need of God’s grace and merciful help every day and every moment of our lives. Scripture tells us that “the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:22-23).

God gives grace to the humble who seek him with expectant faith and with a repentant heart that wants to be made whole and clean again.

There’s a song we sing here sometimes..............may it be a prayer for today.

To the river I am going Bringing sins I cannot bear Come and cleanse me, come forgive me Lord I need to meet you there In these waters, healing mercy Flows with freedom from despair I am going, to that river Lord I need to meet you there