“The Advice Of A Slave Girl…!”

“The Advice Of A slave Girl…!”(II Kgs 5:1-8).
Folk wisdom states that in a typical African kingdom no-one knows the queen who shall give birth to the next king. What this means is that treat all the queens with respect as you do not want to risk falling out of favor with the next queen mother.
This is true of stratified societies where some are considered less than humans.
We know that our help comes from the LORD who made heaven and earth, but we do not know the person through whom the LORD channels such help. To parody Dessiderata, even the fools, they too have their own stories.
The high and mighty should be humble enough to condenscend to the pieces of advice coming from nonentities like slaves and servants. Here is a teaching example:
Namaan, commander of the army of the king of Aram “was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy,” a dreaded disease at the time.
Namaan’s wife had a servant who was an Israelite captive. She knew about Elisha the prophet. She wished aloud to her mistress for Namaan to visit Elisha for healing.
Upon hearing this Namaan told his king who readily wrote a letter to the king of Israel asking him to attend to his commander. Namaan set out with huge amounts for compensation.
Did Namaan and his king listen to the slave girl as am acquiescence of “any port in a storm” for a ship in rough seas? The girl mentioned a prophet, why the diplomatic protocol of one king writing to another king when the girl had stated clearly of “the prophet?”
This is typical of high circles always wanting to ignore or downplay the lowly!
When the king of Israel received the letter from his Aram counterpart, he saw it as an affront and a means of formeting trouble, thus futhering old animosity.
When Elisha heard this, he told the king not to be worried. He told him, “…Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel. “
My friend, are you highly favored by God, and do you have people under your authority – especially servants? How do you deal with them? Treat them well and listen to their pieces of advice too.
God is just; that is why despite the personality and achievements of Namaan, “he had leprosy”! But the slave girl did not have leprosy; rather she had the solution that had to take away Namaan’s shame and deformity.
Lesson: God is not a respecter of persons, and he can use anybody for his own glory. It is good to show love like the slave girl did.
Prayer of the day and week: Holy Spirit help us to be tolerant of everyone because we do not know through whom our help will come. Amen!
Welcome back to a new working day and week! Have a blessed working day and week! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.