2 Kings 5-7: The Penalty for Unbelief

“My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. - 2 Kings 5:13-14 NIV

Naaman would not have been healed of leprosy if his servant had not convinced him to believe the word God sent through Elisha.  Over and over again, throughout Elisha's ministry, we see the results of belief versus unbelief.  Although Naaman was somewhat insulted by what he was told to do, he obeyed when he could have laughed at the far-fetched solution. 

The officer at the gate of Samaria saw Elisha's prediction as foolishness as well.  Samaria was so besieged by the Aramean's that they were eating their own children.  Scarcity and inflation were killing off the population.  When Elisha gave God's word that the next day there would be plenty, the officer laughed.  'It will happen,' Elisha told him, 'you will see it, but not enjoy it.'  And sure enough, as the crowds rushed out of the city to steal the plunder from the abandoned Aramean camp, he was trampled to death. 

The penalty for unbelief is missing out on God's blessing.  It wouldn't be belief, God wouldn't be God, if what he asked us to believe in was reasonable.  He is a miracle working God.  Anything that can be done or imagined by man is not a miracle and is not how he chooses to work.  God asks us to believe in miracles; he asks us to believe in him.

2010 Post - 2 Kings 5-7:  God's Way the Only Way