The Power of Humble Influence
2 Kings 5:1-2
1 Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.
2 Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”
Some visitors were being shown through a large modern manufacturing plant. As they passed through the research building, their attention was drawn to a strange sight. A huge steel beam was suspended on a single chain stretching down from the ceiling far above. And against this beam one tiny cork was being bounced again and again.
They were told this is an experiment in the superimposition of force. After the cork has bounced against the beam thousands of times, the beam will move.
The visitor asked if he might go back later in the day to see what had developed. All afternoon he watched the tiny cork bouncing against the motionless beam. Then late into the night he noticed a small tremor in the beam. Almost imperceptibly it changed positions. An hour later he could see that it was now, in fact, swinging slowly back and forth. And one hour after that the huge beam was moving strongly at the end of its chain. Fascinated, the visitor saw the mass of iron, weighing tons, gathering momentum with every minute and move through the windless air of the great laboratory room like a mammoth pendulum.
What is the influence of a cork over a huge beam of steel? In a small, but consistent way, its little power was felt.
This week we want to look at one of the important stories of the persistent influence of a young slave girl had on a great and powerful man. It is a favorite story in Sunday school of many children because it talks about the influence of a child that really affected a country. We will look more closely at the story of Naaman, the leper. The slave girl's witness of God brought about Naaman’s God-encounter. This story also reveals the works of man seeking his own ways to bring solutions to his problems and the importance of trusting humbly in the works of God by faith.
