2 Kings 5 – The Healing of Naaman
So, certainly read the story yourself, but I will give a brief synopsis. There was a guy named Naaman that the king really liked. Naaman had leprosy, a contagious skin disease. It’s actually surprising that he would have such a high rank as an army commander since lepers we usually “banned” from society.
Anyway, a young servant girl to his wife told Naaman he should go see the prophet Elisha to be healed. Elisha tells Naaman to bathe in the Jordan River seven times and he will be restored. Naaman is outraged at the menial instructions and asks why he should bathe in the Jordan River since there are better rivers than it. His officers tell him if it had been something extraordinary he was told to do he would’ve listened to the prophet’s command, so why not listen to his simple instructions?
So, Naaman agree, goes to the Jordan and bathes seven times, and is healed!
Many of us are like Naaman. We’re in a jam and we want to tell God how He should get us out of it. We want something and want to tell God how to give it. But that’s not how it works.
The thing that has always stuck out to me was that Naaman felt that he should bathe in the best waters. That’s crazy right? Naaman has a contagious skin disease and he wants to get in the good, clean water?
And just like Naaman, we have our own contagions, don’t we? We want a good godly man, but don’t want to be godly women, thus we taint the relationship. We want a promotion, but don’t want to learn and mature for it, tainting the position. Or better yet, we want a big salary, knowing we haven’t been good stewards of what we currently have, tainting our finances.
When you’ve been involved in something with no intention or effort to make it better, every now and then, God has to keep us out of the good water so we don’t mess them up too. But, yet and still, God in His infinite wisdom, love, and care, still uses the menial to perform the miraculous.
So ask yourself, are you keeping the waters clean?