Gehazi’s Harvest

And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants? The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow. (2Kings 5: 26, 27)

I find Gehazi’s as among the saddest stories in the Bible

And why so?

Gehazi was the undisputed heir of Elisha’s prophetic ministry. He was the one due to receive the double portion of the same when the prophet exited the scene.

Not only that. But he had been very useful in Elisha’s ministry for long. To the point that he went out of the way to look for the background information that would make Elisha serve with the distinction we knew him of. Remember about the Shunamite woman who wanted nothing for her ministry to them?

He had been Elisha’s safe pair of hands.

Yet he blew it so badly.

All because he saw some freely floating money that he was unable to resist, money that Elisha had more or less dismissed with disdain.

He probably though Elisha did not appreciate how that money could have impacted their ministry. He probably thought that he could later use it to procure an ass for the prophet to ride those distances he used to trek. Probably he thought they could use the money to build better habitats for the schools of the prophets.

He probably thought that Elisha was too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good as many accuse some of us of being.

Or he was simply being greedy and thought that that money was the breakthrough he had been longing and waiting for until then.

That seed of greed was able to yield such a harvest as would completely alter his whole posterity.

He planted greed and harvested leprosy for whole generations.

Appears such a dire judgment for a small error until you look at it using God’s eyes; until you look at its impact on the ministry he was serving under.

Naaman was used to serving gods, demanding gods.

To him therefore, the God of Israel was just way bigger than the ones he had come across but not much different. His access was therefore not much different from that of the other gods. Remember Simon in Samaria?

Taking that gift was therefore blocking Elisha’s witness to this general. And no wonder the judgment was so dire.

Allow me now to write about us today. Allow me to apply Gehazi’s lesson to our times.

The other day I was shocked to come close to something many just hear about

A friend was nominated to a political office to represent persons with disability.

The night before the swearing in someone called and said that they had been replaced, and not by someone with any disability but by a relative of some party big brass.

Instead of feeling infuriated as is normal for me, I felt an intense sorrow for that person who chose Gehazi’s harvest.

You see, they probably never really needed that job since the brother in high places earned enough, not just to care for their needs, but to even get a better job elsewhere.

They did not need to fake disability. The kin could easily have procured another job. That is the saddest part for me.

That for me is a joke taken too far.

By their greed, or what they think is their need, they have opened a portal of unending disability for unending generations. They have opened a door for unending and unmeetable need beyond their feeble lifetimes.

Like Gehazi they have got much more than they had bargained for or anticipated.

But I am not stopping here.

Have you ever looked at yourself with God’s eyes to see how similar you may be to Gehazi as I like doing once in a while?

I am a minister and so will dwell on ministry and ministers to put God’s message across.

Have you ever been given something and told to give to someone in need because as a minister you are better placed to do so?

What did you do, especially when there is no requirement for accountability since the giver trusts you?

I know many ministers who decide that their need is the purpose of that gift and decide that there is nothing wrong with making that gift theirs.

I have been in churches that seasonally give towards the needy in their community. They give food, clothes and many other things a family in need may require.

Yet many times the leaders will pick the best and offer the remnants to the needy and none will be the wiser because the ones who gave have no business managing the distribution since there are ministers and church staff better equipped to do it.

I know of pastors who have been given a vehicle to help someone in their congregation who needs it and they own it or give to their best friend who may even have a better one.

Gehazi is not as far removed as we may think.

How many really needy people access the bursaries whose sole purpose is to make the needy able to access education? How many scholarships go to the truly deserving? How many jobs end up with the people who not only need them but are best qualified for them?

It is a small thing to think that the position you have is the ticket to whatever may pass through it.

Yet was that not Gehazi’s error?

Trust comes with responsibility, a responsibility to do the right thing without any supervision or accountability.

The truth is that it starts with God.

When God entrusts us with a responsibility, He has the expectation that we will do only what that trust entails without seeking personal reward.

Elisha refused that reward, not because he had no need, but because he was content with the little God had given him.

The fact that the Shunamite pitied him to build him a room to rest is telling. I believe she must have seen him weary for the journeys too many times to count.

You do not build a house for someone who passes by once a year, or even once a month.

That money could have done him much good. I am sure it could have bought him a horse, or at least a mule to ease his long journeys.

But he waited for God to release it when or ever He saw fit. And He does the same to us all the time.

When I was paying rent, God would sometime bring me money enough for rent and tell me not to pay my rent. And He would bring somebody He had prepared that rent for. Interestingly, He did that before releasing my rent.

But He would eventually release my rent.

But suppose I had taken Gehazi’s route as many of us are wont to take?

I could easily have released need into my composition. I could have harvested the need God had brought for me to overflow into. I could, like Gehazi, have become the curse the giver was running away from.

God is just and must reward our faithfulness as He punishes our rebellion.

I will write about other aspects later

This is just meant to make us reflect.