Biblical Story Of Gehazi And Their Lessons

Biblical Story Of Gehazi And Their Lessons

BIBLE TEXT:

2 Kings 5:1-27

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INTRODUCTION:

We will be talking about the biblical story of Gehazi and the lessons to be learnt from the story. The story of Gehazi can be found in the book of 2 Kings 5:1-27 according to our anchor text.

Gehazi was Elisha’s servant in those days, but his story came to limelight when the commander of the army of Syria named Naaman wanted to get his healing.

Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper. Naaman sought to get his healing but could not find it till Elisha got to know he needed healing, and Elisha sent for Naaman to come to him so that his God will heal him. 

Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha’s house.  And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, he taught the man of God will even come out and meet him and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’ He was angry that there are no other better pools such as Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash them and be clean?” So, he turned and went away in a rage.  And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” So, he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

 And Naaman returned to the man of God, he and all his aides, and came and stood before him; and he said, “Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel; now therefore, please take a gift from your servant.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will receive nothing.” And he urged him to take it, but he refused. 

But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “Look, my master has spared Naaman this Syrian, while not receiving from his hands what he brought; but as the Lord lives, I will run after him and take something from him.”  So Gehazi pursued Naaman. When Naaman saw him running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him, and asked if all was well.  And Gehazi said, “All is well. My master has sent me, saying, ‘Indeed, just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the mountains of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of garments.’” So, Naaman said, “Please, take two talents.” And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and handed them to two of his servants; and they carried them on ahead of him. When he came to the citadel, he took them from their hand, and stored them away in the house; then he let the men go, and they departed. Now he went in and stood before his master. Elisha asked him, “Where was, Gehazi coming from? and he said, “Your servant did not go anywhere.”

 But Elisha knew Gehazi was lying, and he said to him, “Did not my heart go with you when the man turned back from his chariot to meet you? Is it time to receive money and to receive clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male and female servants?  Therefore, the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and your descendants forever.” And he went out from his presence leprous, as white as snow. So, Gehazi became leprous because of greed.

Biblical Story Of Gehazi And Their Lessons

1. 1. Never allow the spirit of greed to overwhelm you. As we read in the story, Gehazi allowed himself to be overwhelmed with the spirit of greed and ended up taking over Naaman’s leprosy that was healed. This is glaring that every disobedient has repercussions. The bible says in the book of Ezekiel 18:20 ‘The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. Everyone will face the consequences of any sin perpetuated. Greed will always lead to destruction. Never allow the spirit of greed in your life because the end is always destructive.

• Trust in God to supply all your needs. When you trust in God with all your heart to supply all your needs, you will never seek help from where there is no help, or you will never fall short of God’s glory to do what is not supposed to be done. Gehazi forgot God that very minute, he forgot that God could supply much more than what Naaman wanted to give Elisha as a gift, he went ahead of God to provide for himself rather looking unto God the author and the finisher of his faith.

•  Always follow the instructions from your leaders. Gehazi chose to disobey his leader, Elisha. He disobeyed the prophet and even God and he got the reward of disobedience. Do not disobey the authority or your leaders, especially the anointed of God, because they hear and know what God is saying every time.  2Chronicles 20:20b “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.”

• Be conscious of the Holy Spirit in you. Never let the presence of the Holy Spirit leave you. The Holy Spirit is always there to guide us. Had it been, Gehazi asked the Holy Spirit to help him when that thought of greed came into him, he would have not been heard of or read of today that he became a leprosy because of greed. The Holy Spirit is our guide and our guard, that was why the Psalmist prayed hard that God should not take His Holy Spirit away from him. As a child of God, this should always be our daily prayer request because the world we live in now is filled with events that can make one fall short of God’s glory.

1. Ask for forgiveness when you come short of God’s glory. From the story, we saw that Gehazi even lied to Elisha when he was asked where he was coming from, and after Elisha even said he knew where he was coming from, we did not read that he asked for forgiveness from Elisha nor God. This is a lesson to us, that we should not wait till punishment is pronounced, ones we recognized that we have erred, we should go before God or the authority to whom we have sinned and ask for forgiveness. 1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God is a merciful God, there is always a room for repentance no matter how bad our sin may look, He has the power to forgive us and make us white as snow.