Have a Curse to Reverse?
Copyright © Dave Earley
http://www.init-2-winit.org
Do you love a good comeback?
Who doesn’t? Your team is down late in the game, they start to come back little by little, it’s getting later, and then they actually pull it out. The team gets pumped up, the fans get pumped up, and they win the game when it looked hopeless.
What about when your team gets behind, and then plays like losers for the rest of the game? Everyone loses hope, and the team is cursed to defeat.
What does it mean to be cursed in real life? Perhaps sickness, depression, financial problems, or family problems? When things just keep getting worse, and it looks as if there is no hope, we are tempted to just give up, and accept defeat, or live in the curse. Sometimes we just say, “That’s life.” “Bad things happen.”
It’s different for followers of Christ. God has put us here, and if we are here, then we are here to live for Him. We’re not quite finished yet. More than 2,000 years ago, Jesus walked the earth as we do. He gave us power to have victory over anything that holds us down. Even when it seems like there is no hope, God is here, and His specialty is turning the impossible into the possible.
In the book of 2nd Kings, in the Old Testament, we read of two people, struck with a curse. It seemed like they were defeated, but both of them made a comeback. Naaman, a respectable warrior, led Aram to victory, but he was cursed with leprosy, a debilitating disease that takes over the whole body. His curse was so great, it became greater than his reputation, and accomplishments.
Naaman left his home, and went to the king of Israel with what would have been 1.2 million dollars worth of valuables, to get a cure, but the king couldn’t help him. The king sent Naaman to the prophet Elisha, who sent out a servant to tell Naaman to wash in the Jordan seven times, IF he wanted to be healed. Naaman was furious. He expected the prophet to come out to meet him, wave his hand around in a spectacle, and call on God to heal him. Naaman was about to go home, rather than take a dip in Israel’s river.
Isn’t that human nature? We throw some money at a problem, but that doesn’t work. When we hear God’s solution, we walk away because we don’t like it. Before turning back, Naaman’s servant asked him why he wouldn’t do such a small thing, after being ready to do anything to get rid of his curse. Naaman wised up, did as Elisha instructed, and his skin was restored, as that of a little child. Simple obedience and faith released Naaman from suffering and humiliation. Naaman was healed, and was moved to worship God, the reverser of the curse.
Gehazi, was Elisha’s servant, and he saw all that had happened. Naaman had offered Elisha the valuables that he was going to give the king of Israel, but Elisha would not accept the valuables for what God had accomplished. Gehazi saw it differently. He ran after Naaman, telling him that Elisha had changed his mind. Naaman handed them over to Gehazi, who hid them away. When he returned to Elisha he was questioned and rebuked, for Elisha knew what was done. In turn, Gehazi received the curse that Naaman carried, because he chose to sin. Not only was Gehazi suppossed to carry the curse, but his entire family as well.
Seven years later, there was a famine, and Gehazi and his family sat outside the city with the rest of the lepers. Coming up with a plan, Gehazi and three other lepers went to an enemy camp to try and get some food. God amplified the sound of their approach, and the Syrians ran for their lives leaving all they had behind. This time, instead of hording all of the riches, Gehazi went back to the king of Israel to give him the news, and the next day the famine was over. Gehazi went from a condemned leper, to the advisor to the king.
A curse lasts forever when God is not allowed to deal with one’s character. Gehazi’s descendants could have lived as miserable outcasts their whole lives, but because Gehazi changed his ways, and passed the test of character, the curse was reversed and Gehazi was restored.
No curse is irreversible. Don’t settle for it no matter the cause. God tells us to call Him Father, and He has committed Himself to maturing us completely. We may have to go through trials, suffering, loss, or even a curse, to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ, but He won’t settle for less, even if you do.
Ask God to reverse your curse, to bring out your sin, and whatever He wants to refine in you. Be cleansed by Him, and watch Him redeem what you thought was not possible to restore.
“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it.” (Philipians 1:6)
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