But may the Lord forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I have to bow there also—when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your servant for this.”
2 Chronicles 5:18
Here we see Naaman is requesting Elisa to intercede for him on this one thing which is against the commandment of God. I have heard this story many times in my church but when I read it once after I was saved by the Grace of God in the year 2020 The Holy Spirit helped me to relate what I should do like Naaman did.
Naaman when he immersed in the river Jordan he was healed. At that moment his eyes was opened and he knew the God of Israel is the true living God. During his return journey from Jordan to meet Elisa even if we count it as 2 hours approximately Naaman made a decision that he will only serve the God of Israel. He might have run through his mind the thing he has to leave being from a country Syria which is full of Idolatry and demon worships. He had to leave his festivals, traditions & habits but he was never hesitant to make a decision to leave them all after realizing the truth. We can understand that from the above verse 2 Ch 5:18 the only one thing he cannot not skip was being with the king at the Rimmon temple as he being the Army commander must be beside the king which is unavoidable. So he requests for pardon and grace to Elisa from The Lord.
When I was saved by The Lord, The Holy Spirit told me to do the same. Delete all my old life. I throwed all my idols being a catholic, erased all my email, google, YouTube and Facebook history, removed my Instagram account knowing I don’t need it. I exited certain WhatsApp group and even stopped speaking to a few friends basically left anything that could lead me back to my old sinful life.
The same happened with Elisa when Elijah called him, he killed the Oxe which he was ploughing and used the same yoke to cook the Oxe. He offered his work so that he cannot return to it from his calling. We see King David burning all Idols from the cities and places he captured because in future it may slip into Israel. He made sure every idol is burnt completely.
Today we see people in the church interested in their customs and traditions rather than to obey the Word of God. It is a question we have to ask ourselves is there anything Lord I have to leave still to become closer to you anything that leads me away from you to remove it completely from my life.
Prayer
Our Father in heaven Give us the grace O Lord to identify the things in out life that leads us away from you and to remove that from our lives completely so that we may live a life to please you. In Jesus name I Pray Amen.
Sol.Leo