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."21. So Gehazi hurried after Naaman. When Naaman saw him running toward him, he got down from the chariot to meet him. "Is everything all right?" he asked. 22. "Everything is all right," Gehazi answered. "My master sent me to say, 'Two young men from the company of the prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.'" 23. "By all means, take two talents," said Naaman. He urged Gehazi to accept them, and then tied up the two talents of silver in two bags, with two sets of clothing. He gave them to two of his servants, and they carried them ahead of Gehazi. 24. When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the things from the servants and put them away in the house. He sent the men away and they left.
The focus today is on the greedy reaction of the servant Gehazi. He decides secretly to go to Naaman and gets something from him. He schemed, lied, stole the money, and hid it. It is almost sacrilegious to say, "As surely as the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him." He makes that sound like a vow and brings the Lord's name into his activity that is personal deception. Deceivers do that. Unfortunately, that action destroyed the message that Elisha wanted to leave with Naaman.
Gehazi did wrong because it involved a serious injury to the cause of God's will. Elisha didn't want Naaman to think the blessing was related in any way to Naaman’s gift or works. He didn’t want him to think it was because of his positions, status, or power. He needed to receive grace that he could not buy.
Many put so much attention on material goods and the value of being rich. Look at all sales of lottery tickets lately. The motivation is the desire of great wealth with little investment. It centers our hearts on the lust of money.
we have, we think we need a little more. Our desire to acquire more is never fulfilled.
Greed is no respecter of persons be it an unethical pastor, teacher, politician, or common thief. entertainment and sports fields.
Psalm 37:4 is an often quoted, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." What prosperity gospel preachers fail to point out is that the rest of this chapter is devoted to telling believers not to fret about the accumulation of things that evil people possess. The context of Psalm 37 indicates that God in His own good time will see justice is done. "For the power of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous" (v.17).
The actual desire of the godly heart is totally different than the desire of the worldly heart. The desire is more of God! If I delight in God, then I want more of God. I will want more of His will, His ways, His love, His power, His peace, and His wisdom.
Application: Beware of how greed for worldly things captures your attention.
Prayer: Lord, guard my heart and give me a spirit of contentment so that I may not fall into lust and greed for more.
