1162. Leprosy and the Loss of Fellowship

Leprosy and the Loss of Fellowship

"But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from yon, that He will not hear" (Isa_59:2).

Leprosy is one of those diseases which separates its victim from those nearest and dearest to his heart. In the laws of Israel the leper was isolated and kept outside the camp.

Sin always separates. "Your sins have separated between Me and you."

In the case of Naaman, he was still at home, but there was coming more and more, a great gulf between him and all around him.

1. There was the loss of fellowship with the king. How could he come into the presence of the king? Was not his flesh becoming polluted? Was not his very presence becoming more and more revolting?

This is true with a believer when he allows sin to mar his life. "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth" (1Jn_1:6).

Sin always separates. "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear" (Isa_59:1-2).

If we regard iniquity in our hearts the Lord will not hear us. If we are contaminated with iniquity, our Lord will not bless.

One who had just received the Lord Jesus Christ and was rejoicing in the manifest presence of the Lord in her heart, asked us if the Lord would ever leave her? We replied: "No, the Lord will never leave you; but if you sin He will hide His face." We can have fellowship with Him only as we walk in the light.

2. There are the loss of fellowship in his home. Of course, he still held the love of his life. But how could she approach him, how could she lean upon him, now that he was a leper?

Illustration: In the story of Ben Hur, the fond mother is described as finding her son asleep on the door step. Ben Hur had returned after his long exile only to find the home of his youth deserted. Mother was gone? Sister was gone! That very night, drawn by irresistible love, the mother and sister had come back to the old home and found him there asleep. But they were lepers. Tirza was about to throw herself upon her brother, when the mother caught her and whispered: "Lepers! We are lepers! We dare not touch him." So they slipped away to the leper's camp and left the broken-hearted Ben Hur in ignorance of their whereabouts.

There can be no real fellowship in that home where sin dwells in the heart. Oh, brother, sister, mother, are you lepers? Then your life will blight all those you touch. Sin separates; it forms a gulf between us in the home.

3. There was a loss of service. How could Naaman lead the hosts of Syria any longer? Possibly he had often led them to victory in the past; his arms had given deliverance to Syria; but now he was a leper. Who would want a generalissimo, who was touched with loathsome decay? Let him hide his face. Let him stay away from camp.

All of this is true in the life of Christian service. Perhaps you can remember the time when you were greatly honored in the work of Christ. You led the hosts of the Lord. Your voice was heard in prayer, and song; perhaps in sermon. But now you have sinned. You have lost your integrity. You have turned from God. Who wants you to lead them now?

David was side-tracked by his sin in the case of Uriah and Bathsheba. He could not longer teach transgressors God's ways; he could no longer sing aloud of His righteousness. Why? Because his own life would belie every word he spoke. His service was marred. His power was gone.

"For we the truth must live,

If we the truth would teach;

It takes the overflowing heart,

To give the lips true speech."

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR