3rd Week of Lent

Let him come to me and find out that there is a prophet in Israel.

Our everyday lives offer many ways to practice trust: trusting that a cup (or two) of coffee will ensure your morning starts on the right foot.   Trusting the gas tank will hold out until you reach the next service station.   Trusting the weather forecast will give you blue skies.   Our lives are filled with tales of everyday trust that can teach us about trusting the Lord.

In today’s first reading (2 Kings 5: 1-15), a chain of trust involving many people brings Naaman to the point of being healed of his leprosy.   One person’s trust led to actions that influenced the next person and so on.   Here’s how:

It started with a little Israelite girl, taken captive in a raid by the Arameans and serving Naaman’s wife.   She confidently tells her mistress that God could heal Naaman’s disease through the prophet Elisha.   Trust led Naaman’s wife to tell her husband, who went to his king to ask for leave to travel to Israel.   Trust moved the king of Aram to send a letter and tremendous riches to the king of Israel, in the hope that Naaman would be healed.   Israel’s king feared the Arameans, but he trusted Elisha’s confidence in God’s power to heal Naaman.   Finally, when Naaman balked at Elisha’s directions to wash in the Jordan, his servants urged him to trust and simply do what Elisha told him.

The fruit of all that trust was Naaman’s healing, coupled with the conviction that the God of Israel is the one true God.   Without a doubt, the trajectory of his life, as well as all those around him, was forever changed.

You can experience a chain of trust today.   Your life and your faith have an impact on the people around you.   When you trust God, it has a ripple effect beyond your own life.   Your choice to trust God with a difficult decision in your marriage might bring your spouse to trust God too.   The confidence in God’s providence that motivates your giving might lead your neighbor to become more generous himself.

How will you trust God today?   How will you translate that trust into action?   You never know how God will use it.   Just look at the little Israelite girl—and Naaman.

“Lord, I trust you.   Help me to turn my trust into action.”

Psalm 42:2-3; 43:3-4
Luke 4:24-30