Years passed. One night the village council met. As they reviewed the budget, one man saw the salary being paid to the old keeper of the spring and asked, `Who is the old man? No one ever sees him. Do we really need Him?" They voted to fire him.

       For several weeks nothing changed. Leaves and branches fell into the pools. Little by little the color of the stream changed to yellow and then to brown. Finally a green film covered parts of the water and there was a smell. The millwheels moved slower, some finally stopped. The swans and the tourists left.

       Quickly the village council called a special meeting and hired back the old keeper of the spring. Within a few weeks the water cleared up. The millwheels turned, and life returned to the village.

       This old keeper of the stream seemed unimportant. But he was very important. There is a story in the Bible of a teenage girl who also seemed unimportant. There are only three verses in Scripture that talk about her. Turn with me to 2 Kings 5:2-4. We'll start in verses 1-2. It says,

2 Kings 5:1-2

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

       This teenage girl is simply called a "little maid"or a "young girl." Many teenagers today feel too young, too little, unimportant and insignificant. Yet this young girl did a lot for God. You may ask, "Why do you think she is a teenager?" (1) She is called a "young girl." (2) She is old enough to believe in God and to communicate spiritual truth worth repeating. (3) She was old enough to work. When she was kidnapped or captured from Israel she was already working as a "little maid" in Israel. They wouldn't have captured a young child who was more of a burden than a help. (4) She is old enough to work in a captain's house, a responsibility that wouldn't have been given to someone too young. So for these reasons this girl had to be older than 10 or 11. And yet she was a "young girl," so probably a teenager.

       And like many teens today she was in a situation she didn't choose. She was separated from her family and friends. Many of today's kids don't feel close to their family or don't feel like they have any real friends. She was a servant and had to do what others told her to do. Many young people today feel the same way. So what did this servant girl do in this situation? How did she respond? I'd like to look at three things that made Naaman's little maid so special.

1. SHE HAD A CONCERN FOR NAAMAN
       Now earlier, bands of Syrian soldiers had raided an Israelite village, and had taken this young girl captive. In time she was placed in the home of captain Naaman and became a servant of his wife.

       This Israelite slave girl is a most remarkable person. She has every reason to hate Naaman and his wife. Her master is responsible for many raids against Israel. Many Israelites died in those raids. It's even possible that her parents died. At least she was taken away from her family, friends and everything she knew. Instead of hating her master she actually cares about him. She wants to see her master get better. And because of her concern, he is healed of leprosy - the most dreaded disease of that day (similar to AIDS today). But more important than that, because of her concern he also received God's gift of salvation.