
Persevere Past Your Objections and Do What God Shows…
Scripture Reference 2 Kings 5 : 13-14
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.
Here yet again we see the vital role servants can play in directing an individual toward experiencing God in a unique and powerful way. God was at work in the young servant girl, as well as in Gehazi and also through Naaman’s accompanying servants. Oh how the weak and powerless can be a mighty voice to influence people of even the highest standing when used by the Lord! Naaman’s servants knew their master to be a man of valour and action, therefore they appealed to him in a way that Naaman could easily relate to. 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’!”
Naaman’s servants redirected their master’s focus away from his perceived offense to the fact that he would have done anything, no matter how big or how difficult to be free of his disease. Truly Naaman lost sight of his ultimate goal because of his momentary disillusionment with the process!
How many have walked away from an opportunity to give their lives to Christ based predominantly on an inability to reconcile their feelings with the call to simply come, repent and believe? Many take offense to their need to repent, in fact their need to humble themselves before God. Many reject the perceived simplicity of the process, that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, 1 John 1:9. Many false religions are based upon the premise that salvation or purification is all up to us, or what we must do to earn it.
Naaman needed his servants to remind him of the reason that he had come and that if he was more than willing to do any great feat toward being healed, then how much more should he also be willing to do the simple thing he was told to do. What Naaman needed to do is what we also need to do, embrace the Word of God and act upon it in faith. Now, some might argue that Naaman had no faith, however faith is so much more than what we think we can conjure up in our minds. James reminds us that our actions will either prove or disprove our faith, 2:14-17!
Naaman listened to his servants and then he acted in obedience to the Word of God by going to the Jordan and willfully dipping himself into the water 7 times. This then is what faith in action looks like! Naaman persevered by pushing past his offense choosing to act in obedience to the Word of the Lord and subsequently he was healed! Not only was his disease gone but his skin was rejuvenated like that of a child! Naaman received immeasurably more than he had asked for due to the power of God that was at work within him subsequent to his acting in obedience to the Word of God! Do not question the process that God has given you, instead push past your objections and do whatever it is that God has shown you that you must do.