2 Kings 5:20-27 But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master has spared Naaman this Syrian… Judging only as we are able to do of one another now, Gehazi's plan had succeeded, and he had done well for himself. But he had left out of his scheme the remembrance that God had something to do with it. I. LYING AND FALSE WAYS OF EARTHLY PROSPERITY ALWAYS LEAVE OUT GOD. Liars and deceivers ignore God's interest in their life, God's knowledge of their plans and schemes and the execution of them. And in their apparently untroubled doing without God these men and their actions become most hurtful stumbling-blocks to many tender souls, such as that most pure and deep thinker Asaph — or the man who wrote psalms for his use, who mourned over the wicked that they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the Most High? Behold these are the ungodly who prosper in the world; they increase in riches." Such sin is either a practical ignoring of God altogether, atheism in daily action and business (which is much more pernicious than atheism of intellect), or it is a defaming and insulting of God's omniscience. II. ONE SIN, ONE LIE, MAKES OTHERS EASIER AND WORSE. The lie came from him easily and readily: for he had prepared himself beforehand, and the lie he had told to Naaman trained him to insult, by deceiving, his master. The way to perdition is downhill, on a slippery way, with a descent that is ever quickening. III. GEHAZI'S EXPOSURE AND SHAME come now before us. How soon the scheme came to an end, and such an end! How soon the bubble burst! Gehazi had deceived Naaman and had gotten his money, but he had misled himself much more. IV. ELISHA'S PATRIOTISM CRIED OUT AGAINST GEHAZI'S SIN. V. GEHAZI PIERCED THROUGH WITH MANY SORROWS. He had sought his good here; but with Naaman's money he got his leprosy, too. The blessing of the Syrian became the curse of the servant of the man of God. (G. B. Ryley.) Parallel Verses KJV: But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the LORD liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him. |
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