day 250: Lessons from Naaman

2 Kings 5:13

But his officers tried to reason with him and said, "Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn't you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, 'Go and wash and be cured.'"

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This is the story of Naaman, the commander of the king of Aram's army. Though he was a mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy. He wanted to get rid of it.

When they invaded Israel, one of the girl's they captured told Naaman's wife about the prophet in Samaria who could heal his leprosy.

Naaman took a letter to the king who tore his clothes (because they did that a lot back then), and sent him to Elisha, the prophet.

Elisha sent a message to him (didn't even come out and see him-- which ticked Naaman off). Elisha told Naaman to go wash himself in the Jordan River seven times and he would be healed.

Well... that ticked Naaman off!

1. He was aggrivated that Elisha didn't even come out to see him.

2. He was upset that it was the Jordan River (wasn't the rivers of Damascas, Abana, and Pharpar better????)

3. He expected Elisha to come out, wave his hands over him, and heal him so he could be on his way.

Then his officers told him, "If he told  you to do something hard, wouldn't you have done it? Go do what he told you to do!!"

So he did, and he was healed.

We can get a lot out of Naaman's story.

*Sometimes we get our prayers answered--- but not in the way we want-- and it either ticks us off or makes us mad. Say, you don't like your job and you pray about not having to go back. God could answer that prayer by having you be fired--- and you'd be ticked! It wasn't the answer YOU wanted.

A lot of times, when we pray, we already have the answer worked out in our head, we just want God to agree with it. We say we want him to do what HE wants-- but in reality we want him to do what WE have figured out. And, like Naaman, we get upset when it doesn't happen the way we want.

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*Another thing we can take from this is that a lot of times, we make things harder than it is. Naaman was ticked that all he had to do was dip in the river seven times.

How many times has God told you something easy to do, but you don't do it because it seems so 'easy'? We tend to think of things for God as hard. They don't always have to be. The idea is to do what God tells you, no matter how hard, easy or... strange.

Naaman did end up being healed because he did want God (through Elisha) told him to do. Wonder what would happen if we did the same thing?

God Bless You

~Kelly