Dharius Daniels - I'm Going Undercover

I must be willing to go undercover; let’s see what the text has to say about this. The primary person in this story is a man named Naaman. Everyone say Naaman. Naaman was the highest-ranking military official in Syria, so he was economically affluent, relationally connected, and professionally accomplished. Yet verse 1 says Naaman was a leper. What does it mean? He had this skin disease called leprosy—leprosy that would cause hyperpigmentation on the skin, leprosy that would produce blisters and lesions that were sensitive to the touch, leprosy that had such insatiable itching that some people were known to scratch the skin off their bodies in an attempt to ease the agitation of the itch, leprosy that was so dangerous that if left untreated, it could actually lead to the loss of limbs. Naaman had armor on the outside but leprosy on the inside. When he walked around in his armor and military garments, he wore outwardly his accomplishments. You could look at his garments and see his rank; you could look at his garments and determine his area of expertise; you could look at his garments and recognize his accomplishments. People would look outwardly and be inspired; they would be impressed; they would be filled with admiration for Naaman. But when Naaman went home and took the armor off, Naaman knew things about himself that others could not see simply by observing his armor. Naaman knew, «I’m a leper.» I just believe there are those of us in this room today who can relate to him. I believe there are those of us in this room who would say, «I know what it’s like for people to get a picture of my life and come to a conclusion that does not reflect the totality of who I am.» Because all of us have some armor. Some of our armor is our accomplishments—that’s what people see outwardly. Some of our armor is our beauty—that’s what people see outwardly. Some of our armor may be our affluence—that’s what some people see outwardly. Some of our armor may be our influence—that’s what people see outwardly. But inwardly, we know we all have something that’s itching that we’ve been scratching for the majority of our lives, and all of our relationships, our resources, our influence, and our education are unable to scratch that itch. When you get home, everyone has something that’s eating at them. Everyone in the room and watching online has some type of leprosy. Leprosy is what God uses; He doesn’t cause it, but it’s what He uses to expose to you and me our limitations. It’s what He uses to help us see, «You can fix everything, Naaman. When you’re in military conflict, you know what to do. When you find yourself in need of provision, you’ve got the affluence to handle it.» Naaman, you can fix everything, but when it comes to you, you’ve got to come to Me. You are talking to Me! When it comes to you, Naaman, you’ve got to come to Me because your degrees can’t fix that. You can’t pick up the phone. There are some problems you can pick up the phone and call about; you can’t pick up the phone and call about this. You can’t use your charm to fix this. You can’t use your beauty to fix this. You can’t smile and fix this. You can’t wink your eye and fix this. You can’t show your degrees and fix this. You can’t use your networks to fix this. This is what I use to drive you to Me. Everyone has something in their life that God will let itch long enough until you get so tired of scratching that you go to the only one that has the capability to deal with that. I want to know, am I preaching to anybody in the house today? I love God, but I’m itching. I praise God, but I’m itching. I come to church as best I can, but I’m itching. I have some areas that cannot be addressed without divine intervention. I have leprosy, and leprosy shows up one way in one life and another way in another life. But don’t judge our leprosy because we are scratching. Let me go over here. I feel like y’all aren’t engaged. This section right here, y’all talk back to me! I say, «Yeah, we are scratching.» Some of us dress up better on the outside than others; some of us drive home in different types of vehicles, but when we get out, come on, talk to me! Some of us sleep on cotton sheets, and some of us sleep on silk sheets, but when we all lay down, every now and then, we’re all scratching because there are areas in our lives that our influence and our relationships can’t fix, and God uses those to drive us to Him. Naaman was a leper, and it’s interesting because the story tells us there was an unnamed Israelite girl. We don’t know her name; we just know she’s an Israelite girl. She is the servant to Naaman’s wife. Now, she’s an Israelite girl; we don’t know her name, but she’s a servant to Naaman’s wife. All the text tells us is that she’s an Israelite girl. Why is that significant? That’s significant because during this context of history, Syria had captured and oppressed Israel. This is important—she wasn’t working there because that was her occupation of choice…