“So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.” – 2 Kings 5:14 (NIV)
He came with horses and chariots and a letter from a king. He had gold, silver, and fine clothing as payment. He had the full weight of his military reputation and his national standing. He was Naaman, commander of the Syrian army, and he had leprosy, and he had come to the prophet Elisha to be healed.
Elisha did not come out to meet him. He sent a servant with a message: go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed. Naaman was furious. He had expected Elisha to come out personally, stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot, and heal the leprosy with an appropriately dramatic gesture. Instead, a servant appeared with an instruction to wash in a river that Naaman considered inferior to the rivers of his own country. He turned and went away in a rage.
His servants, with remarkable courage, offered a gentle corrective: if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you to simply wash and be cleansed? This is the question that cuts to the heart of Naaman’s problem, and if we are honest, it cuts to the heart of a very common human problem: we are willing to do impressive, costly, visibly significant things in pursuit of what we need from God, but simple, undramatic, humble obedience to a quiet instruction feels beneath us.
Think about the healing or breakthrough that is attached to an instruction that seems too simple, too ordinary, too beneath the dignity of the situation. The marriage counsellor recommending something that sounds too basic for the complexity of the wound. The doctor suggesting a change in routine that feels disproportionately small to the scale of the condition. The spiritual director pointing to a practice of prayer or forgiveness that sounds too straightforward for the depth of the pain. Naaman’s story says: do the simple thing. Wash the seven times. Obedience is always the prerequisite for the miracle, and it almost never arrives in the form we expected.
He washed seven times. Not once, to see if it was working. Seven times, as instructed. His flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy. The simplicity of the method made the miracle unmistakable. There was no skill involved in Naaman’s washing. There was no drama, no ceremony, no impressive gesture. There was only the obedience of a proud man who was finally willing to be humble, and the faithfulness of a God who was waiting for exactly that.
Today, identify the instruction you have been resisting because it seemed too simple or too undignified for the situation you are in. Then go and wash.
Prayer
Father, forgive me for the times I have walked away in anger because your instruction seemed beneath the scale of my need. Humble me the way you humbled Naaman. Help me to do the simple, undramatic, ordinary thing you have asked me to do, as many times as you have asked me to do it, trusting that the miracle is in the obedience and not in the impressiveness of the method. In Jesus’ name, amen.
