‘Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy”’ (2 Kings 5:2-3)
The story in 2 Kings 5 is mainly about Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army. But the story starts with a little slave girl who loved her neighbor — and in this case the ‘neighbor’ is the commander of the army that has carried her off from her land and family to work as a slave in Naaman’s house. It would have been natural for this little girl to hate her master.
And yet, when Naaman gets incurably ill, the girl gives him a piece of advice that will save his health, his career and status, maybe even his life. She knows that only God can help (by means of a prophet) and she probably is the only one in Naaman’s surroundings who can tell him about it. After all, the Syrians don’t serve the God of Israel, but have their own idols that can’t really help at all. Following the girl’s advice, Naaman travels to Samaria. There he finds healing for his body and for his soul, since he learns “that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel” (2 Kings 5:15).
Did you realize that pointing people to God can also be an act of love?