GOD’S WAY IS DIFFERENTReading: 2 Kings 5: 1-15
Namaan was commander of the Aramean army, a mighty warrior, famous throughout the land – but he had leprosy. Illnesses, life-threatening diseases are no respecters of persons. In spite of his status, power and wealth there was absolutely nothing Namaan could do about his condition; nothing, that is, until the young Israelite slave gir,l who waited on his wife, gave him hope. When our condition is desperate we will go to any lengths to seek to alleviate it. So it was with Namaan, who was willing to go even into enemy territory if it meant he would be cured.
The King of Israel was terrified. He thought the whole thing was a trick on the part of the King of Aram. He panicked. That was because he was looking to his own strength and ability or lack of it. He was reckoning without God and without the servant of God, the prophet Elisha. “Why are you so upset?” Elisha asks the King. “Send Namaan to me and he will learn that there is a true prophet here in Israel.” So namaan comes to Israel with some of his officers, bearing many gifts for the prophet. He doesn’t know what to expect but not in his wildest imaginings could he have conceived of what would happen next! What a blow! Elisha doesn’t even come out to meet him! That was the first insult. The second insult was more than he could stand, namely to be told to go and wash himself seven times in the river Jordan. Why, the Jordan was a muddy old stream in comparison to the mighty rivers of Abana and Pharpar in his own country! His pride is challenged and he rages and sulks. His officers are more sensible. “Sir, if you’d been told to do some mighty task, wouldn’t you have done it? All you’ve been asked to do is to swallow your pride and go and wash yourself in this river – and you will be healed.”
There is some need deep within most of us that wants God to act in the way we dictate. Perhaps it’s a desire to be in control, not only of ourselves and the particular situation, but also of God. In the midst of the chaos, or despair or difficulty in which we find ourselves, we think we know the best way out of it or through it, and, if God would only heed us, then all would be well! Thank God his ways are beyond us, are different and, when we really take time to reflect, always better than our limited little plan or solution.
In reality, God was not only healing Namaan of his leprosy but also of his pride and self reliance. Also, God never heals us for ourselves alone. There is always a ripple effect, a bigger picture. There is always more in God’s economy. In this case, not only was Namaan healed, but the good news of the one true God was proclaimed in an unmistakeable way.
This is a story of a chain of events, of a number of people that seem unconnected until you read it through God’s eyes. Namaan, his wife, the little slave girl, the Kings of Aram and Israel, the commander’s officers and the prophet Elisha. Under God, even although most of them didn’t know him, God’s purpose is fulfilled and has an effect way beyond anyone’s imaginings. And it all started with the faith of one little slave girl who had the courage to speak out because she knew and trusted God and her place in God’s scheme of things.