Bible in a Year - Women’s Thematic Reading Plan | Day 190

Day 190 of the Parent-Child and Family Bible Plan: Read 2 Kings 5:1-14 and reflect on Naaman’s little maid, a young girl taken captive from Israel who still bore witness to the God of Israel in a difficult place. Through her story, this devotional encourages children to testify of God wherever He has placed them, and helps families see that a child’s simple faith can become the beginning of grace for others.

🌸  Dear Sister, welcome to Day 190 of our reading journey. 

In many families, we often think of children as those who need to be taught, protected, and guided. This is true. Children do need the care, direction, and protection of parents and adults. Yet the Bible also shows us that children are not only “future people” God may use one day. Even now, they can become a blessing in His hand.

In 2 Kings Chapter 5, we meet a little maid whose name is not recorded. She was from the land of Israel, but she had been taken captive by the Syrians and served Naaman’s wife. She was far from home, in a lowly position, and had experienced the pain of war and separation. From a human point of view, she seemed to have very little influence. Yet when she knew that Naaman was a leper, she did not remain silent, nor did she become cold because of her own suffering. She spoke a simple word full of faith: “Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.”

The witness of this little maid became the starting point of Naaman’s healing. Her story reminds us that children can know God, trust God, and bear witness to Him in the place where they are.

A Minute of Grace

2 Kings 5:1-14 tells the story of Naaman’s healing. Naaman was captain of the host of the king of Syria. He was a great man with his master and honourable, and he was also a mighty man in valour. Yet he was a leper. This man who seemed strong, respected, and successful on the outside carried a suffering that could not be solved by power, wealth, rank, or military achievement.

At this point, Scripture turns our attention to a little maid. She had been brought away captive out of the land of Israel and waited on Naaman’s wife. She had no recorded name, no social position, and no ability to change her own circumstances. Yet she still remembered the God of Israel and believed that God could work through His prophet Elisha. So she spoke a short but faith-filled word to her mistress and pointed toward the prophet in Samaria.

From the perspective of parent-child and family discipleship, this passage is deeply precious. God did not begin this story through a king, a priest, or a great prophet, but through a young captive girl serving in another person’s house. Her circumstances were not ideal, yet she did not lose faith in God. She may have been young, yet she knew how to point human need toward God. Her words were brief, yet they became the beginning of grace for another person.

This also reminds parents and adults that children do not need to wait until they are grown before they can bear witness for God. At school, at home, among friends, and in daily conversations, children can point others to God through honesty, kindness, faith, prayer, and simple words of testimony. Our calling is not to look down on a child’s spiritual life, but to help children know God from an early age, trust Him, and courageously testify of Him wherever they are.

Today’s theme, “Naaman’s Little Maid: Children Can Bear Witness Too,” invites us to reflect: Do we truly believe God can use children? Are we willing to cultivate faith in our homes, not only training children for good grades, good behavior, and good habits, but helping them know and trust the Lord? When children speak with simple faith, are we willing to listen seriously and encourage them to become witnesses of God’s grace?

Whispers for the Heart

1 Naaman’s little maid lived in a foreign land and held a lowly position, yet she still remembered God and believed He could heal. As parents or adults, are we helping children build a true memory of faith, so that wherever they go, they know they can trust God, pray to God, and bear witness to God?

2 This little maid had few resources and no high position, yet one sentence of faith became the beginning of Naaman’s healing. Do we often underestimate the influence of a child’s simple words and sincere faith? In our homes, do we give children space to share what they know about God, how they pray, and what He has placed on their hearts?

3 The little maid did not allow the pain of captivity to harden her heart toward Naaman. Instead, she pointed him toward God’s healing. How can we teach children, when they are hurt, misunderstood, or treated unfairly, to bring bitterness to God and respond with goodness and faith when it is right to do so?

As you read 2 Kings 5:1-14 today, do not only notice the miracle of Naaman’s healing. Also notice the quiet, young, unnamed little maid. Her life reminds us that children can bear witness too. When a family is willing to nurture a child’s knowledge of God from an early age, that child may become the starting point of someone else’s journey toward grace in an unexpected place.

Take a quiet breath before you begin. Bring your children, your family discipleship, your spiritual guidance, and your hopes for the next generation before the Lord, and let His Word meet you there.

🎞️ Today's Youtube Video 

🪕 Response Hymn: 

2 Kings 5:1-14 (KJV)

5 Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper.

2 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.

3 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.

4 And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel.

5 And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment.

6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy.

7 And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me.

8 And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.

9 So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.

10 And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.

11 But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.

12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.

13 And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?

14 Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

🪕 Response Hymn: 

💡 Closing Thought · A Small Voice Can Still Point to God

After reading 2 Kings 5:1-14, we see that Naaman’s healing story did not begin in a palace, military camp, or among powerful people. It began with the witness of a captive little maid. She had no recorded name, yet God remembered her. She had no position, yet she spoke a word of faith. She lived in a difficult place, yet she still pointed human need toward God.

As we close this page and return to family life, perhaps our children are still young. Their expressions of faith may be simple, and their prayers may not sound mature. But remember this: a child’s faith is not small in God’s eyes. A child’s honest prayer, simple testimony, or brave sharing may become the beginning of someone else’s journey toward knowing God.

May today’s Scripture remind us not to look down on children or see them only as those who need to be cared for. May we accompany them with love and truth, helping them know God, trust God, and bear witness to God wherever they are. And may every child know that God can use their small voice as a light pointing to His grace.

🎉🎉 Congratulations on completing today's devotion! 🎉🎉