2 Kings 5:13-14 (NIV) Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, 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, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” 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.

Naaman was a commander in the army of the king of Aram. The king held him in very high esteem. It would have all been good with Naaman except for the fact that he had leprosy. A young Israelite girl that had been captured in a raid and was a servant in Naaman’s house told Naaman about Elisha the prophet, telling him that Elisha could cure his leprosy. After he found his way to Elisha, things didn’t go as he expected. Elisha sent his servant out to Naaman to tell him that in order to be healed from his leprosy, he needed to go and wash himself seven times in the Jordan River. This made Naaman very angry because Elisha didn’t come to see him personally and the thing that Elisha told him to do sounded ridiculous to him. He envisioned Elisha calling on the name of his God and waving his hand over the leprosy on his body and healing him. He didn’t think that he was going to be asked to do something that he thought was stupid. He was about to leave in a rage when his wise servants talked some sense into him. He finally gave in and submitted himself and obeyed what Elisha had said for him to do, putting his very small faith into action. As soon as he had gone under the waters of the Jordan a seventh time, he was completely cleansed from his leprosy.

Even though God tells us in His Word that His ways and thoughts are much, much higher than our ways and thoughts, we still try to figure Him out and we sometimes recoil and resist what the Word of God tells us to do in different situations. There are also promptings from the Holy Spirit that we can either obey or ignore. Many times, these things don’t make sense to us. One example out of many from scripture is when Jesus made some mud with saliva, put in on a blind man’s eyes and then told him to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam. When the blind man obeyed and by faith washed himself as Jesus had instructed him, he was cleansed and healed of his blindness.

You should always be in a position to believe God’s Word and to act on it. You also need to stay alert to whatever instructions the Lord gives you either through His Word or through a combination of His Word and His promptings and follow wholeheartedly. Many times, it will not make a whole lot of sense to you but when you obey and do it anyway by faith, you too will experience the cleansing power of obedience and the healing that comes through faith. Let’s learn a lesson from Naaman, who although he initially thought it ridiculous to do what the prophet said, finally submitted, obeyed and had the faith to dip himself in the Jordan River seven times to receive his healing. In the same way, obey the Word of the Lord, have faith and be healed!

Pastor Joey Vazquez