Can we go back, after we have been proved wrong?
The king of Aram had great
admiration for Naaman, the commander of his army, because through him the LORD
had given Aram great victories. But though Naaman was a mighty warrior, he
suffered from leprosy. At this time
Aramean raiders had invaded the land of Israel, and among their captives was a
young girl who had been given to Naaman's wife as a maid. One day the girl said to her mistress,
"I wish my master would go to see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal him
of his leprosy." So Naaman told the king what the young girl from Israel
had said. "Go and visit the prophet," the king of Aram told him.
"I will send a letter of introduction for you to take to the king of
Israel." So Naaman started out, carrying as gifts 750 pounds of silver,
150 pounds of gold, and ten sets of clothing. The letter to the king of Israel
said: "With this letter I present my servant Naaman. I want you to heal
him of his leprosy." When the king
of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes in dismay and said, "This
man sends me a leper to heal! Am I God, that I can give life and take it away?
I can see that he's just trying to pick a fight with me." But when Elisha,
the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes in dismay,
he sent this message to him: "Why are you so upset? Send Naaman to me, and
he will learn that there is a true prophet here in Israel." So Naaman went with his horses and chariots
and waited at the door of Elisha's house. But Elisha sent a messenger out to
him with this message: "Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan
River. Then your skin will be restored, and you will be healed of your
leprosy." But Naaman became angry
and stalked away. "I thought he would certainly come out to meet me!"
he said. "I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the
name of the LORD his God and heal me! Aren't the rivers of Damascus, the Abana
and the Pharpar, better than any of the rivers of Israel? Why shouldn't I wash
in them and be healed?" So Naaman turned and went away in a rage. 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!'" So
Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man
of God had instructed him. And his skin became as healthy as the skin of a
young child's, and he was healed! (I kings 5:1-14-NLT)
I purposely wanted the scriptures above to be a little
lengthy, we need to get the entire meaning and marinate in it for awhile. From
time to time, all of us and I do not exclude myself desire to have a prayer or
request answered in a particular way, or by someone else. We feel that only one person, or certain
persons can do the job or complete our request. However, God always knows what and who is best for us.
Because Naaman was the commander of
the army for a King, he felt that his request should be granted according to
his desire. God, however, had a
different plan. We are familiar with the
scripture; For
I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for
good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. (Jer. 29:11-NLT) The
question is, do we believe it? As the
story goes, King Aram sent a letter to the King of Israel asking him to heal
Naaman, then the King gets angry. Why? So, Elisha said send him to me. However,
when Naaman agreed it was his assumption that Elisha would lay hands on
him. How many times do we assume things
in our own intellect?
As
it happens, Elisha sent a messenger to give Naaman an instruction to follow to
receive his healing and then Naaman gets angry. Do we realize that in our anger we can miss the blessing and miracle
that God has for us? Sometimes we just
need to be grateful that God is moving in our lives. As the story goes, when Naaman finally
listened and went to the pool and dipped, he was healed.
The
part that I am a little concerned about is, he did not go back and apologize
for not trusting the servant that God used for his healing. Naaman was wrong about his thoughts and how
he felt his healing should come. So, my
question is; how many times have we been wrong and never owned up to it? We must take ownership of our mistakes and
admit to our wrong assumptions.
If
never hurts to say I was wrong, and did not realize the blessing that was
attached . Just because it is not
delivered by who we desire, or in the manner that we thought it should be, does
not mean it is not our miracle.
All
of us, myself included must accept and stop trying to rationalize how God is
going to do what only he can. Let's learn to take the blessing, healings,
deliverance, and promises of God anyway and from anyone he chooses to use. God
can and will do for us what no one else can. Give him a chance and watch him work.
