WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE

2 Kings 5: 1 – 16


It has been said that every cloud has a silver lining and that out of every tragedy comes something good.
What good can come out of a car accident? What good can come from the death of a loved one? What good thing comes to us from being kidnapped, or having a serious illness?
Why did I ask that last question? Well, for one thing, it's talked about in 2 Kings 5.
God does nothing by coincidence.
There was this young unnamed girl who was taken from her family and country, and eventually ended up as a servant in the house of Naaman the General of the army of King Aram.
Why, or how was God going to use a kidnapped girl and her captor to bring glory to His name?
Because He's God that's why!
Naaman suffered from leprosy and was desperate for a cure. The slave girl was a devout Jew who could have been angry about her position and cause nothing but discomfort for her master, but, instead gave him some good counsel about Elisha the prophet.

3 She said to her mistress, "If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy."

Now. Here's when God steps in to show how a good thing can come from a bad thing.

8 When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: "Why have you torn your robes? Make the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel."
9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house.
10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed."

A simple thing to do right? All Naaman had to do was dunk in the Jordan seven times, yet he wouldn't do it, because he felt it was beneath him to do so.

11 But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.
12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?" So he turned and went off in a rage.
13 Naaman’s servants went to him and said, "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’?"

Convinced by his servants plea, Naaman did what was required to be cleansed and went into the Jordan seven times.

14 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.
15 Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. Please accept now a gift from your servant."
16 The prophet answered, "As surely as the LORD lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing." And even though Naaman urged him, he refused.

There it is. God used a poor kidnapped slave girl, and her captor who need a healing to show God's glory. Nothing changed for the girl, as far as we know she remained a slave, but she was willing to share the God of Israel with someone and something good came out of her bad situation.
Naaman got baptized and came out of the water clean and praising God. Now that's a good thing out of misery.
All we have to do today is listen to Him follow where God leads us and then just see what He has in mind. Even when such bad thing happen to us that we think that we can never go on, a good thing will somehow come from it.