When Success Isn't Enough: What a Syrian General Taught Us About Surrender

Meta Description: What does true success really look like? This Sunday, Pastor Ernest Smith took us to 2 Kings 5 and showed us why surrender is the path to the life we're actually longing for. URL Slug: true-success-surrender-naaman-2-kings-5 Featured Image: An open pair of hands, palms up, against a warm, natural background — representing the posture of surrender and receiving that anchored the sermon's closing prayer.

There's a question most of us quietly carry but rarely say out loud: If I achieve everything I'm working toward, will it actually be enough?

This Sunday, Pastor Ernest Smith — lead pastor of Front Range Church in Castle Rock, Colorado and a dear friend of Lake Point — brought us a message that cut straight to the heart of that question. Drawing from an often-overlooked story in the Old Testament, he helped us see that the success we're chasing may be the very thing standing between us and the life we actually want.

The Idol We Don't Always Recognize

Pastor Ernest opened with a striking observation: success isn't inherently bad. But when the pursuit of achievement becomes the thing we're living for — the metric by which we measure our worth, our security, and our happiness — it quietly becomes an idol.

He quoted the late pastor Tim Keller, who wrote: "More than other idols, personal success and achievement lead to a sense that we ourselves are God — that our security and value rest in our own wisdom, strength, and performance."

To illustrate how hollow achievement can feel at its peak, Pastor Ernest pointed to voices we might not expect. Tom Brady, after his third Super Bowl win: "Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there has to be something greater out there for me?" AJ Brown, after winning the Super Bowl: "I thought my hard work would be justified by winning it all, and it wasn't." The pattern is hard to miss. Fame, money, and achievement can all be real — and still leave us empty.

A General, a Slave Girl, and a Muddy River

With that backdrop, Pastor Ernest took us to 2 Kings 5, where we meet a man named Naaman. The passage opens with a striking contrast packed into a single verse:

"Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy." — 2 Kings 5:1

Naaman had everything — power, reputation, the king's favor, and by today's equivalent, roughly $7.5 million in resources. What he couldn't control was his own health. And that uncontrollable thing was slowly killing him.

What happens next is where the story gets remarkable. A young Israelite girl — a nameless slave, probably no older than twelve or thirteen — speaks up and tells Naaman's wife about the prophet Elisha in Samaria who could heal him. Pastor Ernest paused here to let that land. This girl had every reason to be bitter. She'd been taken from her home and her family against her will. And yet, in the middle of a circumstance she didn't choose, she remained faithful — and God used her faithfulness to set an international miracle in motion.

"God is still in the same business today," Pastor Ernest reminded us, "of using common, nameless people to draw others to himself. He's just looking for people who are going to be faithful in their current situation."

The Pride That Almost Cost Him Everything

Naaman makes the journey to Elisha's door — letter from the king in hand, wealth in tow — and Elisha doesn't even come outside. He sends a servant with a simple message: go wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River and you'll be healed.

Naaman is furious. He expected a spectacle. He expected to be honored. Instead, he gets a muddy river and a secondhand instruction.

Pastor Ernest helped us see exactly what was happening beneath Naaman's anger. Successful people are used to being in control. They know what they want, they know how to get it, and they expect the world to respond accordingly. When something threatens that control, the reaction isn't just frustration — it's the idol of success fighting to maintain its place.

Naaman even questions the logic of it: weren't the beautiful rivers of Damascus better than the muddy Jordan? Why would washing in that water do anything?

"I wonder," Pastor Ernest said, "how many of us are missing out on the healing God has for us because we question the simplicity and practicality of the gospel." The gospel message — that Jesus died for our sins and rose again, offering us life — can sound too simple. Too easy. And so we keep carrying our spiritual leprosy when God is saying, I have healing for you.

True Success Is Found in Surrender

Naaman's servants finally talk him down. He goes. He dips. Seven times in the Jordan River.

"His flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy." — 2 Kings 5:14

It wasn't Naaman's power that healed him. It wasn't his reputation or his money. It was simply the grace of God — and Naaman's willingness to stop controlling the outcome and simply obey.

True success, Pastor Ernest told us, is found in surrender.

He shared honestly from his own life — walking through a painful season with his wife after a traumatic workplace situation, facing financial strain, and wrestling with every instinct to fix and control. "I want to control everything," he admitted. "And God keeps saying, 'Will you just trust me?'" Watching God bring healing, provision, and unexpected ministry out of that difficult season has deepened his conviction: nothing turns around in our favor unless we give it over to God.

Naaman's response after his healing says it all:

"Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel." — 2 Kings 5:15

That's the destination. Not just healing. Not just success. But knowing — truly knowing — that God is in control, that he is good, and that he can be trusted with whatever we've been white-knuckling on our own.

An Invitation to Open Hands

Pastor Ernest closed the message with a simple, powerful invitation. He asked us to consider: Is there something in your life you've been trying to control? A business. A marriage. A prodigal child. A health diagnosis. A faith that's been hanging by a thread.

He led us in prayer with open hands — literally — as a physical reminder that we can't receive what we're unwilling to release.

If that resonates with you, the invitation is still open. Watch the full message, share it with someone who needs to hear it, and take a moment this week to sit with that question: What am I holding onto that I need to give to God?

Missed Sunday's service? You can watch the full message on the Lake Point Church YouTube channel or at lakepoint.church.

Social Media Excerpt (Facebook/Instagram): Tom Brady said it after his third Super Bowl win: "Why do I have three rings and still think there has to be something greater?" This Sunday, Pastor Ernest Smith took us to 2 Kings 5 to show us why the success we're chasing may be the very thing standing between us and the life we actually want — and what it looks like to finally let go. Link in bio to read the full recap.

Hashtags: #RunToWin #TrueSuccess #2Kings5 #LakePointChurch #SurrenderToGod