Don’t be discouraged when your journey to healing becomes rerouted. God knew all along the path that He would take you.
In 2 Kings 5, Naaman comes to the king Israel and asks if he can heal him. The king thinks Naaman’s request is ludicrous and tears his robes in despair. Elisha hears about it and tells the king to send Naaman his way. When Naaman finally arrives at the prophet's home, he doesn’t even see the face of the prophet. Elisha sends him a word through a messenger!
“Go wash seven times in the Jordan and your skin will be restored and you will be clean.”
Naaman feels disrespected. Dreams deflated, the Bible says he turned and left in a rage. Not just angry here. A rage means a violent anger or fury. God gives him the exact desire and longing of his heart: to be healed. Elisha tells him specifically how to do it. Because God’s way of healing Naaman didn’t align with Naaman’s expectations, Naaman walks away.
Listen: God has purpose, promise, healing and restoration for your life. Maybe you’ve felt Him speak to your heart about who He has called you to be and you’re wondering why it hasn’t happened yet. Can I drop in here and say that many times we don’t experience the fullness of what God wants to give us because we aren’t walking in full obedience to what He’s asked us to do.
Like Naaman, we’ve all heard of the miracles God has done in the past. We’ve seen Him do miracles for others in the areas that we too are asking Him to do a miracle in our lives. But when He reveals a portion of His plan to us for healing, we aren’t willing to take the first step.
Naaman wanted to perform a great exploit to receive his healing. He was fully ready and prepared for what he expected the prophet to do. Key word here: expected.
This has been me to the core. Do more. Be more. Accomplish more. Do something great for God. I took this perspective into my healing too, I wanted to do something great to receive a miracle from God. Yet He was wanting me to release my doing, respond to Him in obedience, and allow Him to shape me into someone great on the inside. To Just Be. To slow down and align my life with what He was asking.
Perhaps it’s time we laid our expectations on the sidelines and allowed God to bring us to our miracle the way He specifically designed for us.
Naaman was ready to walk away from his miracle because of unmet expectations. I don’t want to be like that. I don’t want to live like that. I want to fully embrace all that God has. To know and trust Him. Fully embracing the fact that He has my best interest at heart. To rest in His love, His plan, His way all the days of my life.
But in order to do that, I need to lay down my expectations.
"Naaman needed the courage to heal, but it wasn’t the courage he thought He’d need, courage born out of himself. It was found in pure and simple obedience."
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