You Want Me To Do What?!?

"And Elisha sent a messenger to [Naaman], saying, ‘Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.‘ But Naaman became furious..." (2 Kings 5:10-11a).

Ever felt like Naaman? I can imagine the scene. Highly significant as a general for the army of the king of Syria, Naaman traveled a great distance to seek out the prophet he believed would heal him. Keep in mind, this was over 2500 years ago—he wasn‘t travelling in a ’07 fully loaded Yukon XL Denali, didn‘t have A/C, and it took some time and probably involved some measure of risk in order to make the journey. Naaman was sent away with his king‘s blessing...and with a gang-load of silver, gold and other valuables intended as gifts to give to the king of Israel upon his arrival. The king of Israel then sent this highly important ambassador to Elisha, the prophet. When Naaman arrived, however, Elisha did not even come out to meet him but instead sent his servant with this message: "What‘s up, Naaman? Peep this: the holy man says to jump into the Jordan and dunk yourself seven times; do this and you will be healed." (Rough paraphrase.)

Yeah, like I said, I can just imagine what Naaman was thinking: "You want me to do WHAT?!? I traveled all this way through the heat to find this legendary holy man and instead I get his servant telling me to jump in a river! Leapin‘ leviathans! The rivers in my country are much nicer (and cleaner!) than this stinkin‘ stream. Heck, I could have saved myself the time and energy and avoided the ever-increasing stankness emanating from my armpits by staying home and jumping in a river there; that way, at least I would have gotten a much-needed bath! I‘m up outta here!" The Message paraphrase of the Bible says that Naaman stomped off, "mad as a hornet!"

It was the servants he brought with him who convinced Naaman to reconsider. Wisely, Naaman repented right there on the spot and agreed to take the plunge. He dipped himself in the Jordan seven times and was miraculously healed by the LORD. His first recorded words to Elisha following his healing were, "Indeed now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel" (2 Kings 5:15). Important detail: This statement was made by a man from a country that did not follow after Elisha‘s God.

In imploring him to reconsider his decision to leave, Naaman‘s servants made an interesting statement to their master. It seems that they recognized the willingness of their great leader to do anything that would be impressive or GREAT according to human standards of measurement. Perhaps Naaman was given to pride (aren‘t we all, though?) and felt insulted by the suggestion that he do something so seemingly ridiculous and unimpressive as jumping in a river. Perhaps he felt a bit embarrassed (sound at all familiar?) as he imagined himself doing such a silly thing, right there in front of the men in submission to him. Yet, in a moment of humility, and simple faith, Naaman wisely chose a path of obedience. And because of his choice, he allowed God to heal him.

Ever heard or sensed the Lord asking you to do something that seemed silly, foolish, ridiculous, embarrassing? Ever thought, or even said to the Lord, "You want me to do WHAT?!?" Now, lest there be any confusion, let it be stated for the record that God would never want to embarrass or humiliate us... but He is certainly interested in humbling us. Being brought low is a whole lot different that being put to shame. The kinds of things that God would ask us to do that might feel a bit awkward are generally things that embarrass our pride, but don‘t insult or shame the real you or me—the people He made you and me to be. Remember, Paul teaches us that God uses the "foolish" things or people (i.e., the least likely according to the world‘s standards) to outwit and one-up the worldly "wise." Naaman clearly expected some kind of flashy, impressive, lightning–bolt-out-heaven, kind of healing; instead, he was asked to do something incredibly simple and unimpressive SO THAT when he WAS healed, he would know without a shadow of a doubt that it was ultimately because of the Lord‘s sovereign power, not his.

What kind of "crazy" thing has God asked you to do lately? The Bible is full of stories of God asking normal, every day people to do things that don‘t make much sense at all to their "rational" human minds: a man instructed to raise his hands into the air in the face of a fast-approaching army in order to insure his people‘s victory against them; a man asked to weed out three-quarters of his army to be better equipped(?!) to fight against and defeat the enemy; a king asked to send his people out, unarmed, towards three enemy armies and worship instead of drawing swords; a young man asked to give away all of his riches; people like you and me, asked to take the last place in line, to turn the other cheek, to love our enemies, to forgive those who wrong us, to give a word to or pray for someone we don‘t know well, to be dunked in water ourselves (baptism)...and the list goes on.

At times the specific activity God asks us to do is more significant in itself than at other times. For example, we know that prayer to God is powerful, so prayer itself is an important activity. But dipping in a river in itself isn‘t—there‘s nothing particularly special about the water or the number seven. Without God in the equation, however, none of these things amounts to anything. The common denominator in all of these activities is the big "O": Obedience. The faith factor is essential here, too. Each and every time we sense God asking us to do something, we have a decision to make: do it or don‘t do it. When we choose not to do it, we miss out on whatever would have been on the other side of that step of obedience; we don‘t get to see the fruit of that simple but immeasurably profound and incredibly powerful decision.

This is not a "too bad—shame on you!" message. It is a reminder that God always intends to do good, both to us and through us--for our sake and the sake of others. So, the next time you feel compelled to ask God, "You want me to do WHAT?!", remember Naaman. It‘s easy to focus on his initial angry and arrogant response; but let‘s not forget that this is a story of a man who chose to be humbled, repentant, teachable and obedient. As a result, God did for him what neither he nor anyone else could do.

God’s thoughts & ways are infinitely higher than ours…and all things are possible with Him. Let’s look to Him to lead us in a way we might not know or think of—but can be confident is the way that will lead (us) to life.