Untamed Passions Destroy Lives, Part 1of2, Evans Olang

2Kings 5:20, vs. “20 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to himself, “My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely as the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him.” (NIV)

One of the things that drowned the economy was greed, an excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves, especially with respect to material wealth (possession) and there are believers who got caught up in the same things.

Elisha was one time a very faithful servant of Elijah. After Elijah was taken to heaven, Elisha became the next prophet and he too had a servant by the name of Gehazi. Gehazi was instrumental in Elisha’s ministry. We see him play an important role in identifying how the Shunammite woman in 2kings 4 could be blessed with a child for her generosity. Who knows whether Gehazi was also being prepped to take Elisha’s position when he was gone. Prophets would receive gifts for their ministry and their servants I believe were also part of the gifts as they served. In this episode, Naaman, a commander in the army of Assyria comes to Elisha to be healed of his leprosy. Vs. 5, “…So Naaman started out, carrying as gifts 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and ten sets of clothing” (NLT). This man came fully loaded, with the best and greatest gift a prophet could have ever received. He is sent to the river Jordan to deep himself seven times; he fights it and then reluctantly agrees to it. Long story short, he comes back rejoicing having been healed of leprosy. He then says, vs. 15 “…Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.” And Elisha would not receive the gift though it was customary for Prophets to receive such gifts. In our day how many including preachers would have sent this man back with his gift? I choose to believe the reason for not accepting the gift was to show that the miracles of God are free and cannot be bought, as a result he was humbled and changed. For the first time he was worshiping the true God. Vs. 17, “Then Naaman said, “All right, but please allow me to load two of my mules with earth from this place, and I will take it back home with me. From now on I will never again offer burnt offerings or sacrifices to any other god except the Lord”.

Vs. 20, “Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to himself, “My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely as the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him.” (NIV) Gehazi sees a lost opportunity to receive gifts he may have been eyeing. He may have worked hard to help Naaman because there was a reward in the end of it. Instead of rejoicing with Naaman and standing by his master who chose to let go, he goes after Naaman behind Elisha’s back. Passions and greed rise up reminding us of the time Cain became angry with his brother Abel over their sacrifices to the Lord. Abel’s was received, Cain’s was rejected and the Lord said to Cain, Genesis 4:7, “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” The sin of greed was crouching at Gehazi’s door but instead of mastering it, he yielded to it. This opened doors to what we will look at. Untamed passions takes a person off the Lord’s will, sets them up for disaster. It’s sin waiting to devour and must be mastered. We are all tempted with greed on small or large scales. Blessings Ev