Pastor’s Perspective

WEEKLY DEVOTION

May 3rd, 2026

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU? ‍

‍ In 2 Kings 5, a young captive Israelite girl was excited to tell her master Naaman (an enemy army commander) that if he would visit the Israelite prophet Elisha, he could be healed of leprosy. Naaman’s arrival distressed the king of Israel, and Elisha told the king to send Naaman to him so he would know there was a prophet in Israel. Elisha had his helper tell Naaman to dip 7 times in the Jordan river to be healed. Naaman was enraged at such instruction and would have left, but his servants encouraged him to at least try this simple task, and when he did, he was healed. 

What makes a captured slave tell her captor of God’s wonderful power to heal and set free (even when she herself was not freed)?  What makes a king of Israel despair, a prophet step up, a servant tell an enraged man to simply obey?  What keeps a man in his pride vs humble obedience to God’s word?

Lord, search our hearts reveal our motives, and may we be like the servants boldly pointing others to God so they like Naaman may proclaim, “Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel.”

With Love,