We're going to 2 Kings chapter 5. 2 Kings chapter 5. And it's just a short reading today. We're just going to read the first few verses. 2 Kings chapter 5, reading from verse 1. Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria. He was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper. And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid, and she waited on Naaman's wife. And she said unto her mistress, would God my Lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria, for he would recover him of his leprosy. Amen. And may the Lord bless to us these few verses from his word.

Let me explain a little bit about the shortness of my reading. Today is one of those days when we are not going to get a whole story. And that for one simple reason. One of the characters I admire most in the whole Bible is the little maid that we have been reading about. We don't know her name. We don't know anything about her family or her background. But what a wonderful testimony she has left us in the annals and accounts of the Bible.

To understand her story, we need to know a little about this man, Naaman. And it is with Naaman that the chapter begins. He's described as a mighty man of valour. He's a soldier. He's the most senior, it would appear, the most senior officer in the Syrian army. a man with a great reputation, a man who had been given by God victories in order to deliver his nation from their enemies. And he was highly honored and respected by the king of Syria.

But to be sure, great as he was, For me, he does not come close to matching the appeal and attraction of this abducted child, known simply as a little maid. That's all that is said of her, a little maid. Now, the other thing that we do know about Naaman is that he was a leper. We're told that in verse one.

Leprosy was a terrible disease of the Bible times. It's possible that it's the same disease as we currently call leprosy today. But I think that there may have been another disease back then, which perhaps we don't know about today. Perhaps it was a disease that the Lord sent particularly upon the nations of that time. Whatever the truth of that is, this leprosy that was characteristic of the Old Testament times was a disease which was infectious and a disease which invariably brought the sufferer down to death. The fact that he had this terrible disease, it would in time ruin his career and it would bring his life to an early end. It terrified everyone that came near him that he had this disease, lest they be infected by him.

We're going to learn more about Naaman in the coming weeks, but as I've said today, I want to concentrate on this little maid in order to see what we can learn from her. This little girl is referred to in only these three verses in our Bible. and she speaks only one sentence.

And yet her testimony sets in motion a wonderful miracle, an amazing conversion, and an example of the distinguishing love and free grace of God. An example, and I'm going to say it again, that I think is second to none in the whole Bible. Her words caused a king to write a letter and another to tear his clothes. And without even knowing it, she almost caused an international crisis between two neighboring kingdoms, the kingdom of Syria and Israel.

Here's a few things that we can discern or deduct about this child. First of all, she was very young. We don't know how young, but she was a little maid and she was very brave. She had been stolen from her home in a cross-border raid by Syrian bandits. who attacked villages, destroyed homes and considered little boys and girls as plunder to be taken and sold as servants and slaves back in Syria. It seems quite likely that this little girl was now an orphan. She may even have seen her parents killed when she was stolen from her home and carried to this foreign land.

But in the providence of God, who always looks after his little ones, she was brought to the household of Naaman. And it seems that she was given, that this little girl was given as a gift to his wife. The child, we're told, waited on her mistress. That is, she fetched and she carried and she did chores, not as an ordinary house servant, but as one dedicated in a personal way to Naaman's wife.

And I'm guessing that she looked after her clothes and she helped her with washing and with hygiene. And perhaps she brushed her mistress's hair and attended to her requests as she went about her daily routine. But this intimacy, this closeness, meant that she overheard her mistress's conversations and she understood something about the anxieties that this woman had concerning her husband's incurable disease. His leprosy would affect him and his household. when it became so serious as to prevent him serving the king and fulfilling his duty. And it must have been a matter of deep concern in the home and to the family.

We also know this about the little girl. This little girl, this little maid, loved the Lord. And the Lord loved her. You might wonder how we know this. Well, she had faith in the Lord. She believed that the Lord could do marvellous, miraculous things. She also believed that he had a representative on earth, the prophet Elisha. And she believed that if Elisha were approached, he would seek God's help, which would be forthcoming. This little girl had great faith. She was just small, but my, she had great faith. We might say it was simple, childlike faith, but it was genuine and it was strong.

She did not say to her mistress, The prophet might help Naaman, my master, my lord. She said that he would recover him from his leprosy. I don't know how she knew that. Had a prophet ever before cured someone of leprosy? If you can think of an example, let me know. Moses had prayed for a cure for his sister Miriam, but it was exceedingly rare. I can only suppose that the Holy Spirit inspired this little girl to speak as she did. Her testimony to her mistress was simple but powerful. She said, would God, my Lord, were with the prophet that is in Samaria, for he would recover him of his leprosy. This little maid had great faith.

And if you have faith in the Lord, it means you love the Lord. And if you love the Lord, it is because he first loved you. Peter says of believers concerning the Lord Jesus, whom having not seen, ye love. This little girl had not seen the Lord Jesus, but she loved him by faith. She had confidence in the saving power of God's servant on earth. That was a picture, a type of Christ and his saving grace. And here's another thing we know about this little girl.

She was bold to speak about the things that she believed. I wonder if she had ever met the prophet. Perhaps her parents were believers and had told her about the prophet who lived in Samaria. Either way, she did not keep to herself the things that she had seen and heard.

These were idolatrous days in Israel, and yet in her simplicity, this little child passed on a message of divine hope and deliverance that would change Naaman's life and bring honour to the Lord. And I can imagine this little maid brushing her mistress's hair as the woman lamented her situation and her husband's condition. And as the woman spoke wistfully, the child's affection for her mistress broke through and she replied, I will pray to the God of Israel that my Lord Naaman will go to the prophet Elisha in Samaria and he will cure him of his leprosy.

What was that? Just the foolish talk of a little girl? No, not at all. Her words were spoken with such sincerity, such confidence, that Naaman's wife could not but be struck with the force of the statement and the possibility that it opened up to her.

The little maid spoke up. She told what she knew, what she believed to be true, and her testimony was used by the Lord. First the Lord worked upon this woman's mind. The Lord was willing to show grace to her husband, and he would not let her rest until she had communicated this message to him, until she had spoken her mind to Naaman and caused the matter to be laid before the king of Syria.

Here are some applications that we can draw from this, I think. Whether we are young or whether we are old, these things stand true. Number one, our testimony for Christ in this life, our testimony, just like this little girl's, our testimony for Christ in this life has great outcomes for the glory of God. Outcomes and results of which we may know nothing. or very little at this time. I don't think we could imagine a more distressful start to the life of this little girl.

And yet how greatly she was protected and preserved and blessed by her saviour. Despite all the tears that she shed, and I am sure that she shed a few. Despite all the tears she shed, and all that were shed for her, she was never out of the Lord's care. He put her in a place where she could serve him. He gave her wisdom to speak.

What does that tell you and me? It tells us that no matter what happens to us in our lives, We are to keep trusting the Lord and we are to hold on to his truth. No matter what happens to us. Who could have imagined what happened to this little girl? No matter what happens to us, let us keep trusting the Lord as she did. Let us hold on to his truth as she did.

Against all the obstacles this child faced, she never lost her faith in the Lord or the Lord's way of salvation. She didn't have a church to go to. She didn't have another believer to help her. She didn't blame God for the losses and hardships that she suffered. She kept the faith. And she's a wonderful example of God's preserving grace as day by day she persevered in her faith in this strange and hostile land.

Here's another thing that we can apply to ourselves. All that this little girl knew, she had been taught by her parents before she was kidnapped. She'd learned about God and she'd learned about God's prophet on earth. She'd been taught as a child. And this shows all parents how important it is to bring our children under the teaching of the word of God and the message of the gospel. Children can be taken from parents and parents can be taken from children. I know of broken families where The teaching of a child is of the utmost concern.

What is the future going to hold for that little one? Well, what can we do to ease the future for that little one beyond, or that can be bettered by teaching them the gospel? You may be young now. You may not think that this has any application for you, but I want you to remember this. Even although you are young, having a family of your own may seem a long way away, a long way off. But if and when that time comes, you too will have the privilege, the duty, the responsibility of teaching your children the truth of the gospel.

So let us acquaint our children with the works of God. Let us point them to God's way of salvation. Let us commit them into the hands of God while we yet can. And here's a third application. The words of this little girl testify to her knowledge and trust in God.

In this remarkable way, She said, would God my Lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria, for he would recover him of his leprosy. And just think about that for a moment. I suspect that the complexities of this situation had not dawned upon that little girl. What justification had she to assume God would recover a Gentile from his leprosy?

Very few are the examples of such blessings flowing to those who were outside of the family of Israel. And yet here is such an example and here it is attested to upon the lips of this little girl. And surely it is intended to point us all to the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ by his death, Christ by his shed blood, heals and cleanses the leprosy of sin in the lives of all who come to him for grace. Every Jew in the Old Testament, every Jew after the time of Elisha who read these verses, must acknowledge that the grace of God extended beyond the borders of Israel." That was the testimony that the God, the Holy Spirit, had left.

And this little girl simply believed it was so. It was as though she declared, if you who are separated from God, go to Christ. you will be saved. And that's exactly right. This little girl's solitary sentence is a gospel sermon in its own right to each of us.

Our sin cannot be cured outside of Christ, but in going to God's designated way of salvation, by going to God's representative on earth, by going to God's great physician, Jesus Christ, our sin sickness will be cured and our guilt will be taken away. The little girl believed Elisha the prophet had power with God, power to heal Naaman's leprous flesh. Christ, our great prophet, has power with God to redeem us from our sin, heal our guilty soul.

How easily Naaman's wife could have dismissed the chatter of a little girl. But she didn't. And we will learn a bit more about that in another week, God willing. But let us not dismiss the gospel promise of grace to all who come to Christ, all who come for grace and forgiveness and for everlasting life. May the Lord bless these thoughts to us today. Amen.