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A Little Maid Witnesses for God, August 6
Saved to Serve
Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great
man with his master ... : he was also a mighty man in valour, but
he was a leper. And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and
had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid;
and she waited on Naaman’s wife. And she said unto her mistress,
Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for
he would recover him of his leprosy.
2 Kings 5:1-3
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A slave, far from her home, this little maid was nevertheless one of
God’s witnesses, unconsciously fulfilling the purpose for which God had
chosen Israel as His people. As she ministered in that heathen home, her
sympathies were aroused in behalf of her master; and, remembering the
wonderful miracles of healing wrought through Elisha, she said to her
mistress, “Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria!
for he would recover him of his leprosy.” She knew that the power of
Heaven was with Elisha, and she believed that by this power Naaman
could be healed.
The conduct of the captive maid, the way that she bore herself in that
heathen home, is a strong witness to the power of early home training.
There is no higher trust than that committed to fathers and mothers in
the care and training of their children....
We know not in what line our children may be called to serve. They
may spend their lives within the circle of the home; they may engage
in life’s common vocations, or go as teachers of the gospel to heathen
lands; but all are alike called to be missionaries for God, ministers of
mercy to the world....
The parents of that Hebrew maid, as they taught her of God, did not
know the destiny that would be hers. But they were faithful to their trust;
and in the home of the captain of the Syrian host, their child bore witness
to the God whom she had learned to honor.
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