Teaching

Can someone please tell us today’s SuperTruth? “I will learn to be humble at all times.”

Thank you! Who learned to be humble in our Bible story? Naaman.

Read 2 Kings 5:1a:

The king of Aram had great admiration for Naaman, the commander of his army, because through him the Lord had given Aram great victories.

Did you hear something very important; who gave Naaman great victories? The Lord.

Point to Box 1: NAAMAN. Naaman was a powerful Syrian warrior; however, it was because God allowed him to be! Naaman was full of pride in his own ability. He certainly did not give God glory for his victories! No doubt, he believed his success was because of his own ability! Naaman was a successful commander warrior, yet he could not defeat something. What was it?

Read 2 Kings 5:1b:

But though Naaman was a mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy.

The disease of leprosy had no cure in Bible times. It spread easily and people who had it were usually sent away, to live outside the city. Today, we would say they were being quarantined, so no one else could catch it. Naaman was probably allowed to remain in his home because of his important position. Let’s look at the steps Naaman took to be humbled and healed.

Point to Box 1, NAAMAN. We know Naaman was a proud and powerful man. He desperately wanted to be healed, yet a number of things blocked his path to healing.

Point to Box 2: WHO. Because of WHO Naaman was, WHO he needed to listen to was humbling. Who was that person?

A young Israelite servant girl, his wife’s maid! Naaman was used to giving orders to servants, not listening to them. By faith, the girl spoke about her God and the prophet Elisha. Naaman would find this difficult to accept because he worshiped false gods. Yet, Naaman was desperate and needed help quickly. All of his wealth, power and fame could not heal him. His false gods were helpless and useless! So, the first block Naaman had to remove was humbly listening to a simple young servant.

Remove Box 2 and place Box 1 on top of Box 3: WHERE. Next, Naaman needed to leave home and travel someplace. WHERE?

He had to go to Israel—his country’s enemy. He needed to travel a great distance by chariot when he was suffering from his disease. He took along gifts for Israel’s king and the prophet when asking for their help. This would be very humbling for such a proud commander! Naaman got permission from the king of Syria and he traveled to Israel. So, the next block Naaman had to remove was to humbly travel in search of the prophet.

Remove Box 3 and place Box 1 on Box 4: WHAT. This was perhaps the largest obstacle for Naaman to receive his healing. He had his own expectations of how he should be healed. However, WHAT he encountered was very different than what he expected! What did Naaman think should happen?

Naaman thought that Elisha should come out to meet him, wave his hand over him, and pray to God for Naaman to be healed. See 2 Kings 5:11.

Instead, what happened?

Elisha did not come out to meet Naaman. Elisha sent his servant to answer the door and give Naaman instructions about how to be healed! Naaman was told to go into the muddy Jordan River in Israel. How did Naaman react—did he say, “Okay, sure”?

Naaman was furious and said there were two rivers in Syrian better than the Jordan—one ran right through Damascus, where he lived! Naaman was insulted that Elisha did not even bother to meet him personally. He was offended that the servant told him to dip in a muddy river when he thought he had much nicer rivers at home! This seemed much too simple; certainly he deserved a show of respect and an impressive ceremony to be healed by God! So what did Naaman do?

Naaman started to return to Damascus; he was too proud to follow the simple instructions. What happened next?

Read 2 Kings 5:13:

But his officers tried to reason with him and said, “Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, ‘Go and wash and be cured!’”

Naaman humbled himself and listened to the wise counsel of his officers. He humbled himself to obey and do WHAT to be healed?

Remove Box 4 and place Box 1 inside Box 5: GOD. When Naaman chose to obey the instructions from God, he waded into the muddy Jordan River and washed seven times. His act of obedience and faith is much like baptism. Baptism symbolizes washing away our sin. When Naaman came up the seventh time, he was not only healed physically; his heart was cleansed at the same time! He was a new man, changed inside and out! Naaman now knew there was only one true God. He vowed to worship Him alone!

Naaman learned to be humble. He removed all of his obstacles of pride to receive God’s grace! Naaman had a problem he couldn’t cure on his own. We also have a problem which we cannot cure on our own—sin! Just like with Naaman, there are simple instructions God has given us to cure our sin problem. We need to humble ourselves, confess our sins, and believe in Jesus as our Savior. He will forgive us and wash us clean!

Read 1 John 1:9:

But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

When we are willing to be humble and submit ourselves to the Lord, He will give us everything we need: salvation, health, joy, love, peace, power, and eternal life. Now, let's continue with our Discipleship Challenge and discuss the spiritual garments that we receive from Christ! One of the garments is something that Naaman learned to wear, too!

Discipleship Challenge/Practical Application

Hold up the sample crafts of the basket and garments from Lesson 1. In the last lesson, you received three garments to place in your basket. Who looked up the verses and filled in the blanks?

1. Colossians 3:12: I am clothed with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience.

2. 2 Chronicles 6:41: I am clothed with salvation.

3. Proverbs 31:25: I am clothed with strength and dignity. Dignity means to be worthy of honor or respect.

Good job! Those are a lot of garments that we can wear every day! We will continue our Discipleship Challenge with a new batch of clothing, with verses for you to look up and fill in the blanks. And be sure to pray about how God would want you to “wear” that type of clothing in your life every day! We will talk about them in our next lesson.

Give each child a Garment Pattern section for Lesson 2. In addition, give any children who missed the previous lesson a pattern for the basket and Lesson 1 garments. All children should cut out the patterns at home, look up the verses, and fill in the blanks.