No More Scars

Have you ever tried to picture the awful scars Naaman must have had? In II Kings chapter 5 it says that Naaman was a great man but, he had leprosy. Through a course of events he finds himself at Elisha’s home and is told to go and dip in the Jordan seven times and his skin would be as good as new. After Naaman’s servant convinced him he should give it a try, he did and, it says in verse 14, “His skin was healed; it was like the skin of a little baby. He was as good as new” (The Message Bible) Wow, there were no remains! Through Elisha, God healed even Naaman’s scars. His skin was completely restored to its original condition.

When I was 2 years old I wanted to go in the house, but our family dog always lay right in front of the door. On this particular day, either one or both of us, needed an attitude adjustment. I’m told I made a very shrill scream at the dog to move. He then proceeded to snap me in the face, his bottom teeth catching the under part of my jaw and the upper teeth catching the soft area between my eye and nose. Ever since, I have lived with this scar. When I was younger, I was rather self conscious of it. Then I realized it was becoming less and less noticeable, but I still know it’s there. If you know me today, you might not even realize I have this scar. (I’m anxious to see how many of you will look closely next time).

Although this physical scar remains, I find joy because the Lord has brought healing to so many scars in my heart. He doesn’t just want to heal our sickness or our wounds, but as with Naaman, the Lord wants to heal our scars. And He will work through an Elisha to bring our healing. That doesn’t mean the memory is gone, but it does mean we can look at that place and see His beauty, His restoration, His redemption, not the ugly scar that we would tend to be self-conscious of as I was. But we can boast all the more of His goodness, love and power in our lives.