Child Champions: Devotions From Time Of GraceSample

Naaman’s servant girl 

You know, the Bible’s main characters are almost all adults. Almost. But there are some amazing children in the narrative of God’s plan of salvation. One of them is a little Israelite girl (name, alas, unknown) who had been taken captive by raiders from Aram (Syria). What of her parents? Were they killed? captives also? safe back home grieving over their lost daughter? We are not told.

What kind of mind-set would you expect the girl to have? Brooding over the injustice of her forced servitude? Seeking to sabotage operations in a military household? Crafting plans for an escape as soon as the opportunity presented itself? Plotting to assassinate the Syrian general as an act of patriotism? None of the above. Hearing that her master was plagued with leprosy, she offered information to help him: “Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, ‘If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy’” (2 Kings 5:2,3). 

It could not have gone better for General Naaman the Leper. He met the great Israelite prophet Elisha, who put him in touch with Israel’s God. He was healed completely, and in gratitude he exclaimed, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel” (verse 15).

Amazing! Never say, “Only a child.”