In the New Testament, we read of children being brought to Jesus. We also read of how willing Jesus was to receive children. Among other things, this teaches us that Jesus is willing to receive sinners of any age. You are never too young to come to Jesus Christ. And not only are you never too young to come to Jesus Christ, but you are never too young to speak to others about Him, either.

In 2 Kings 5, we read about how the Lord used “a little maid” to bring Naaman, the mighty military cap­tain of Syria, to salvation. Naaman was the national hero in Syria. The young boys probably ran around the streets pretending to be the mighty Naaman. However, one day something terrible happened. Naaman found a spot on himself, and he soon realized that he had the terrible disease of leprosy. Now everything changed. Naaman went from being the person everybody wanted to be to suddenly being the person absolutely nobody wanted to be. He had lots of money, lots of fancy clothes, lots of medals from war, lots of popularity with king and people, but now he was a leper. Naaman would have given everything he had if only he could get rid of this disease. But everyone in Syria knew that there was no cure for leprosy.

However, the little maid in Naaman’s house had an idea! We don’t even know the girl’s name. We can guess that she was probably about ten years old. We also know that she was from the land of Israel. This poor little girl had been through a terrible experience herself — she had been kidnapped. Naaman and his army had attacked Israel and had stolen her away from her parents. How terrible! Most likely, she would never see her friends or parents again.

How do you think this girl felt when she heard that Naaman had leprosy? How would you feel? Perhaps something like this: “Serves him right!” “He is getting what he deserves!” “This is what happens to wicked people.” Yet, she thinks the exact opposite. In fact, probably as she is sweeping the floor, or doing some other housework, she says to Naaman’s wife: “Oh, I so wish that Naaman was in Israel, because then the prophet Elisha would heal him from his leprosy.”

This wonderful statement shows us several things about this little girl’s faith. It shows us that she loved her enemies and did good to those who had mistreated her. She really wanted Naaman to be healed. But notice also her confidence that Naaman would be healed if he simply met with Elisha. Remember again, in these days, everybody knew that there was no cure for leprosy. Everybody, that is, except for those who worshiped the God of Israel!

Most likely, this little maid remembered her parents telling her about Elijah and Elisha and all the wonder­ful miracles they performed. And so, she was thinking, “I serve a God who raises the dead to life; who sends fire down from heaven. He is certainly able to heal my master’s leprosy!” And this is exactly what happened. Amazingly, all because of the simple wish of this little captive girl who worked in his house, Naaman found out what she said and told his king, and the king sent him to Israel because of what she said, and eventually he comes to Elisha and is healed—all because of what she said.

Faith like this little girl’s is the faith we need, too. We also must believe that the Lord can and will heal us of our greatest disease: sin! We must believe that if we go to the great Prophet, Jesus Christ, and beg Him for mercy, He will abundantly pardon! And we must believe that He is able to save anyone who comes to Him. In other words, we must believe that “the blood of Jesus Christ, (God’s) Son, cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

We don’t know what happened to this little maid. However, as Naaman goes to meet Elisha, I can imagine her sweeping Naaman’s floors with a smile on her face, and singing one of the songs she would have learned from her parents: “O my soul, bless thou Jehovah, all within me bless His name; bless Jehovah and forget not, all His mercies to proclaim. He forgives all thy trans­gressions, heals thy sicknesses and pains; He redeems thee from destruction, and His love thy life sustains” (Psalter 280:1). May you all be able to sing this song by faith, too!