It’s not too hard to imagine the disappointment! There had been the account of a powerful God who could totally burn up a sacrifice, even one that had been drenched in water. And the priest, this guy Elijah, had simply called on God and God did it, big time!
But instead of another big and impressive illustration of the power of God, Naaman was told to just go and bathe in the river Jordan. Naaman was actually more than disappointed that the prophet in this situation didn’t dramatically wave his hands to heal him. Go and bathe in the muddy Jordan, yeah right! There were better rivers back home. Not only didn’t he go bathe in the river, he went home in a rage!
In my last post, I wrote about that dramatic demonstration of God’s power as shown by burning up the sacrifice and the altar but I also cautioned us that such does not happen as regularly as people might want. In fact, I don’t think it has happened in the same way since!
But what normally does happen is this: God speaks, God hears and God gives attention.
For Naaman, whose expectation for healing was predicated upon a dramatic demonstration, hearing the right voice at the right time turned out to be absolutely necessary for his healing. And not only that, but, as the account records, obeying the right voice was just as crucial! But first, more context would probably be helpful!
Naaman had first heard of the possibility of being healed through an unexpected voice, that of a little girl from the land of Israel:
Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” (2 Ki 5:2-3)
Desiring to be healed of leprosy, Naaman asked permission from his king to go and get help from this prophet. He got a letter from his king to the king of Israel and loaded up money and gifts and went to get healed.
But the King of Israel was not thrilled to receive this visitor with this unusual and even seemingly impossible request:
And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? (2 Ki 5:7)
When Elisha (the successor to Elijah), heard the King of Israel’s response, he sent word to the king to have Naaman sent to him. When Namaan arrived, Elisha didn’t actually meet with him but sent a messenger with instructions that Naaman should to go and bathe in the Jordan River. That’s when Naaman demonstrated his great disappointment in the form of rage. Here is the account:
And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. (2 Ki 5:10-12)
But fortunately for Naaman, his servants intervened. He is how they spoke the voice of truth to him:
But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” (2 Ki 5:13)
And more importantly, Naaman chose to listen to their voices and obey the instructions given by Elisha:
So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. (2 Ki 5:14)
The expectations of God demonstrating His power in a certain way almost caused Naaman to miss out on being healed. But he did end up listening to the voices of those who cared about him and those voices were the ones through which God spoke. And Namaan didn’t just hear; he obeyed.
We do need to hear the voice of God. We hear it through His word, through the Holy Spirit and through those who share and teach the Scriptures to us. But hearing is not enough; we also must obey, even if it seems counterintuitive.
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