“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. 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. 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. So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. 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. 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. 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. 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? 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. And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.”
– 2 Kings 5:1, 7-15 [KJV]
This story exemplifies how God uses pain to get our attention. Leprosy was considered a death sentence in those days. The king of Syria was desperate for healing, so he found a prophet named Elisha, and Elisha had a reputation for getting signs from God. The King was willing to give up his possessions for a miracle, but God was telling him to wash in the Jordan River seven times. To the natural mind, it sounds ridiculous – not only am I going in water seven times, but I’m also going in dirty water while doing it. People will look at me like a lunatic (what Naaman thought). The only way Naaman was going to get delivered was through complete obedience.
It’s easy to obey God when it’s convenient, when it doesn’t ruin my reputation, or when it doesn’t let people make a fool out of me. True faithfulness comes when you have to do the unnatural, such as when you have to obey, even when it means looking silly in front of people.
When I moved back to Florida a few weeks back, I thought I would have an Airbnb and a job lined up, but things didn’t happen that way. My bank account was frozen due to my social media manager client wiring me money via my bank login information which got me in big trouble. I ended up having to move to Jacksonville with virtually no money because I had to give him most of the money, and the remainder I had to use to pay bills. So when I got here, I spent a night with my Uncle, with whom I’m not on the best of terms. My former landlord was able to convince him to let me stay for a night. I asked everyone I could to let me stay for a while, but no one in my close friends’ group could help me. I wound up asking a friend who goes to another church, and I ended up staying there for three and a half weeks. I didn’t get the job I planned on getting (Instacart,) but I just landed a pretty easy sales job that I start next Wednesday.
God will bless us if we obey and trust Him. We aren’t going to know all the details of His plan, but we trust that His plan will work in our favor.
0 Comments