Miracles for the rest of us
Don’t you love all those Old Testament stories? Oversized arks being built. Seas being parted. Walls tumbling down. Lions mouths being shut. Prophets evacuating earth on chariots of fire. And certainly there’s no shortage of jaw-dropping stories in the New Testament: the blind see, the lame walk, the dead live. All these miracles do impress me and remind me of God’s awesome power, but they also can make me feel pretty insignificant. I’ve never built an ark, brought down a wall, shut a lion’s mouth, and I don’t expect to leave earth on a flaming chariot. I’ve never healed the sick or raised the dead. So, in this biblical world of superheroes and miracle-workers, where do I fit in? Is there a need for an ordinary Joe like me? What about the rest of us? That’s when I turn to this Old Testament story. The full story is in 2 Kings 5, but here’s a quick synopsis. A powerful general named Naaman has been afflicted with leprosy. A Jewish servant refers him to Elisha,...