“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!’” — 2 Kings 5:11 (NLT)

I am so guilty of losing my sensibility when it comes to a fast food drive through, especially when it comes to McDonalds. I love my Big Macs and as a kid growing up, two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, and pickles on a sesame seed bun was the bomb diggity!! Currently on Monday nights, I make a stop at my local McDonalds before night school for two of those bad boys. I pull up, make my order, they ask me if “That’s all?” and I pull up to the first window, where they take my money pretty darn quick. BUT THEN, every so often, I get asked to pull up to a spot where I HAVE TO WAIT!!! WHAT!? Isn’t this what McDonalds is known for? Instant Big Mac’s!?! Then I mumble to myself that they should always have these things at the ready, don’t they know I’m in a hurry, grrr. Anyway…

Sometimes we are like that when it comes to making our requests known to God, especially when we need His healing touch. The Roman centurion that we read about in Matthew 8:1-13 needed the healing power of Jesus Christ. He was a guy that gave orders to this one and that one, but when his servant became sick, that centurion was able to drop his position, approach the Savior, make his request known and he found healing for that servant. Imagine, if you will, Jesus turning to centurion and saying, “Normally I would do that for you but you’re a Roman so you’ll have to wait until Paul preaches My Gospel to the Gentiles.” What!? Doesn’t make much sense does it? But in reality, when the healing we’re praying for doesn’t happen right away, we begin to question the motives of God, don’t we? Especially when we think a bit higher of ourselves than we ought to…here’s an example.

“Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper.” (2 Kings 5:1) So here’s Naaman, the “Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff” of his day, BUT he had leprosy. This just might as well be a death sentence for Naaman. Even if his leprosy was in its beginning stages, eventually he would succumb to it as time went along. People may have shown him respect because of his position, but even that would fade. What’s a big shot like Naaman to do? Well, follow the advice of a little Samaritan girl…

This will lead Naaman to a prophet. That prophet will tell his servant to go tell this big shot Commander in Chief to go wash in a dirty river and be healed. OUTRAGEOUS!!
But if you look at this from this view point you’ll see where I am going with this. This big shot leader wanted a big shot prophet to wave his magic wand and POOF…instant healing. But the truth of the matter is Naaman received instruction from a slave girl to go to a conquered, forsaken Israel, seek out a lowly prophet that lived in the armpit of this second rate, third world country, who gave him instructions to go the dirty, dingy Jordan River and bathe not once or twice but seven times. What was missing? Humility.

Elisha’s prescription for Naaman’s healing was truly bizarre and to not even greet him showed that Elisha could have cared less about Naaman’s position in life. Naaman was making a request of the man of God, once he did that he needed to humble himself and be obedient to what God was going to do through the dirty waters of a dingy Jordan river. Once Naaman was reminded, by his servants, “My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean?’” (2 Kings 5:13b) that Naaman’s leprosy would leave him.

That bottom line still remains. We have to humble ourselves to lowly places and lowly people before God can lift us up. Remember, “clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time.” (1Peter 5:5-6) Guess I just better pull up into the assigned spot and wait…Amen?

Written by Chris Hughes: Chris, a graduate of The Colony of Mercy (11-2003) is married (Kathy) with two grown children (Kevin and Karen) and has been a Freedom Fighter contributor since 2008.

The Daily Bible Reading: Judges 10-12| You can download our 2017 Daily Bible Reading Plan by clicking here

Daily Quote: “Be careful if you are in the pastor-only crowd or the big shot-only crowd because God might send a servant to touch you and heal you. You may miss the blessing if you are looking the wrong way. Many have received the touch of God and the healing of his power but because it was not spectacular have attributed it to coincidence or logic.” — Rick Ezell

This Week’s Verse to Memorize:

But I will hope continually, And will praise You yet more and more.
Psalm 71:14