2023
Grace to Believe
Passage: 2 Kings 5:1-15
“The account of the healing of Naaman’s leprosy is a lesson in the unexpected nature of God’s grace and mercy. To begin with, Naaman was a foreigner. But he was not just any foreigner. He was the leader of the Syrian army, the enemy of God’s people. For a prophet of the Lord to heal an Israelite leper was one thing, but to restore the very person whose job it was to oppress you—that was altogether outrageous! Yet this is who the Lord is. He is lavishly generous with his grace, pouring it out upon those who are especially undeserving.”
—ESV Gospel Transformation Study Bible
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Read 2 Kings 5:1-15. What do you observe about God from this passage? What does this story teach us about who God is, what he cares about, and how he cares for his people?
Namaan’s name means “favored one.” He is described as a valiant warrior, but he had leprosy. No matter how well we work to design our lives favorably, we still must face the fragility of life. No one is immune. In what ways have you experienced your life feeling favored or fragile? How has this impacted your faith in Jesus?
What did resilient faith look like in this passage? Consider how resilient faith looked similar or different in various lives in this story.
Namaan had connections, money, and talent. In what ways have you wrestled with looking to the world to help you?
Namaan had to shift his view on the depth of healing he needed. He wrestled with receiving rather than achieving. How have you experienced these shifts in receiving and following Jesus?
God makes an inclusive invitation to an exclusive way of salvation. How do you see God’s inclusivity and exclusivity in this passage?
What do we need to remember, rejoice in, request, or repent of from this passage?
PRAYER
Spend time praying for resurrection hope and a desire to surrender to God in your present circumstances. Ask God for grateful hearts to see his goodness and receive his mercy. Enjoy the truth that God knows you fully and loves you deeply.
Share with your group how they can be praying for you: what is weighing on you from this past week? What are you praising God for from this past week?
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you (1 Peter 1:3-4)