A Disciple’s Ideas and Pride
A powerful story found in 2 Kings 5 -17 illustrates how we can allow our own preconceived ideas and pride to get in the way of God’s blessings:
1 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 Now bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” 4 Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. 5 “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. 6 The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.” 7 As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!” 8 When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.” 11 But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage. 13 Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” 14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. 15 Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. Please accept now a gift from your servant.” 16 The prophet answered, “As surely as the LORD lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing.” And even though Naaman urged him, he refused.
In this familiar story we have a man who the world would say has everything – wealth, power, prestige, fame – but he also had a crisis in his life which he was powerless to change – the disease of leprosy. Naaman was so desperate that he traveled from his own country to the humble home of a prophet who, he has been told by a young girl, could heal him – this was his last hope for saving his life.
Imagine his shock and indignation when the prophet refused to even come out and speak to him, but sent instead his servant who gave him the prescription for his healing. – wash in the Jordan River 7 times.
What he was asked to do was not difficult, it was not expensive, but it was beneath his dignity, he felt. Naaman felt he was important and should be catered to, that the prophet should have conducted a ceremony and if immersing in a river was needed, why not the great rivers of his home. Naaman was trying to tell the healer how to do the healing, but if Naaman knew how to do it why had he not healed himself.
When we look at it this way we are amazed at how illogical this action was on Naaman’s part, but if we stop to consider our own dealings with God we all too often do the same thing.
We pray – God I have this issue and I just do not know what to do – and then we pray – God here is what I want you to do about this!
How many times have we sought God’s wisdom, guidance, assistance, mercy or protection but were frustrated because the path that seemed to be opening up in our lives was not what we had decided God should do about the issue.
Maybe we need to stop and consider how we are responding – we have a problem we cannot solve ourselves, we have come to the God of the entire universe for His assistance and wisdom, but then we question His direction because it is not what we expected.
Thankfully for Naaman he had a loyal friend who told him to get over himself. If the prophet had told him to do some difficult thing he would have gladly done it to be healed so why not be obedient to the small thing he has asked. When Naaman was obedient to God’s direction through the prophet – he was instantly healed and restored.
In the same way, God is waiting to bless us with his peace, protection, mercy and grace but we delay or miss so many blessings because we are spiritually hard headed. I can say this because I have the spiritual headaches from those times I kept trying to push my way through a door which was closed for a good reason.
I pray that if you have been struggling with some area of your walk with the Lord or some situation that you have been seeking God’s direction about, that you will pause and ask God to show you if you have been ignoring His guidance because it did not agree with your own decisions about what should be done.
More importantly, I pray that you will seek each day to be increasingly transformed into Christ’s image and be less conformed to the values and priorities of this world.
MONDAY MORNING MESSAGE / FRED G. CHILTON
