The Butterfly Effect

2Kings 5:1-3

Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Butterflies are free to fly

"Someone Saved My Life Tonight" written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin from Elton John's "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy"

This story from 2Kings (which ends at verse 14) has some heavy hitters. There's the kings of Aram and Israel. There's the General Naaman. The prophet Elisha makes an appearance at the end too. But the whole thing gets started with a little girl who tells her mistress if her master the General will see the prophet in Samaria he can be healed.

In Chaos Theory, there is a concept called “the Butterfly Effect.” The general idea behind the effect is that a minor change in circumstances can cause a large change in outcomes. The events have nothing to do with each other, but the effect is based on the supposition that a brief flutter on the other side of the world can cause dramatic consequences thousands of miles away.

What we have here is a young girl, someone with no power at all who tells her mistress, shoot, her owner, about matters of public health. She has no standing in the household and her very speaking can be her death; so it must take huevos as big as all outdoors to insinuate herself on her master's health. But she does and by this, the King of Aram knows there is a prophet in Israel.

Small actions can have great effects. This is the butterfly effect, and in the kingdom of God butterflies are free to fly.