Generals With Secrets

It's been a week for bombshells. One of America's most revered military leaders - and, most recently, head of the super-secret CIA - has resigned because of an admitted affair. For all the secrets of his agency, his personal secret has exploded into headlines around the world.

I just groaned when I heard about these sordid revelations. I hate to see another hero fall - and another family ravaged. And as I write, questions are arising around another of this country's top military leaders. Sadly, it doesn't take me long to remember other "generals" whose secrets have blown their world apart - including high-powered politicians and even preachers.

But with the current scandal spotlight turned on military leaders, my mind raced to another general with a dark secret. And even though his exploits were in a different time, his story is the story of so many guys.

According to Biblical history (2 Kings 5), Naaman was "commander of the army" of the king of Syria. A "great man and highly regarded...a valiant soldier."

But Naaman was a general with a secret. Something that, in spite of all his conquests, he could not conquer. Like most men's secrets. Whether it's an addiction, an affair, a collapsing marriage, a raging temper, a pattern of deceit, a sexual weakness. Or that ticking emotional time bomb just behind the smiles and bravado.

For General Naaman, it was a killer disease. Leprosy. That medical monster that eats away fingers and feet and faces - and life itself. I can only imagine the general's disbelief the morning he saw the first telltale spot as he bathed. The man who had won so many victories was powerless against this darkness. A feeling so many of us men know as we face our inner monster.

So General Naaman organized a convoy to accompany him to seek out a prophet in Israel who reportedly could help. Of course, champions don't go to country preachers. No, Naaman went to the king! Who responded, "Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life?" So General Naaman had no choice but to lead his whole convoy to the "boonies" where the prophet Elisha lived.

He tried to buy a cure with the fortune he brought with him. No deal. Elisha was a prophet who ran a non-profit ministry. And the prescription he gave this military icon infuriated him. Like most guys, Naaman wanted to do something big to solve his problem. But the prophet told him to go dunk himself seven times in the dirty, stinkin' Jordan River. Even though Naaman was dying from his disease, his reply was simple - "Ain't gonna happen, Rev.!"

Well, it did happen. Naaman's servants convinced him to give it a try. What a scene it must have been. One of the Middle East's greatest and proudest, stripped down, holding his nose and walking into a repulsively muddy river. Strange thing about God. He doesn't heal the proud. He heals us when we finally humble ourselves and do it His way.

The Bible reports the outcome this way: "So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times...and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young man." And then General Naaman announced for all to hear, "I will never again make sacrifices to any other god but the Lord."

For so many "generals" - "make it happen" guys like me - the problem isn't leprosy. It's cancer. Spiritual cancer. That drives all the dark things we hate, but we do. Things that hurt the people we love - the searing words and scarring anger; the pornographic bondage and marital betrayal; the uncaring selfishness and sinful desires that take us where we never thought we'd go. Secret or not, our "disease" is no secret to us. Or to God.

But, thank God, Jesus tells us where we can find the cure. First, he tells us "make it happen" men that God saves us "not by works so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:9). So much for my pride. Then He points us - not to a dirty river - but to a bloody cross. Where He "carried our sins in His body" and "freed us from our sins by His blood" (1 Peter 2:24; Revelation 1:5).

The moment a man is most powerful is when he finally realizes his powerlessness - to fix himself. When he bows his knee at the foot of Jesus' cross. I couldn't conquer until I surrendered. To the Commander of Heaven's armies who shed His blood for me.