I was reading from 2 Kings yesterday and encountered a story a lot of us are probably familiar with. It's the story of Naaman the Leper, a Syrian general healed by God through the Prophet Elisha.
We can learn a thing or two from the story of Naaman about how God's blessings of healing, provision or breakthrough seem to work for those who believe in Him. So often, we act and pray, thinking that if we just believe hard enough, God will let us wake up one day with a blank check or with our sickness gone. This was not the case with Naaman, and while it's not obvious at first, we learn from the story God's purpose to why He may sometimes seem to delay blessings.
To understand the story, we must know who Naaman was. He was not a believer of God and came only to the Prophet Elisha for healing, not to encounter God. To the general, it was probably no more than a business transaction (considering he brought payment for his healing), but God had other plans.
Upon arriving at the Prophet Elisha's place, the Syrian general was then instructed in 2 Kings 5:10, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean" (ESV). This command infuriated Naaman most, probably because he wasn't expecting to be commanded at all. As a high-ranking official, he was likely well acquainted with bossing people around but never was commanded to do anything himself.
Often times, we Christians can find ourselves in the same scenario as Naaman. We look to the blessing or the promise so much that we don't expect to be commanded to do anything. We just want God to grant our requests. But that's not how it works. God's blessing is always best understood in the context of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. To demand blessing apart from the Lordship of Jesus only shows the idolatry of the self—that we would desire our own needs over obedience to the will of God.
When we pray for financial blessing and God commands us to be generous, we lose our heads just as Naaman did. When we pray for healing and God tells us to take medication, we lose our heads just as Naaman did. But one thing that Naaman did was obey. Though it seemed illogical that bathing seven times would cure him, it did.
And, astonished by the results, Naaman now understood that the Lordship of Jesus was what mattered most. In 2 Kings 5:17b, Naaman says, "...for from now on your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god but the Lord" (ESV). A Syrian general now understood who was Lord and Master and was now willing to surrender.
Sometimes God may seem to be stalling with a blessing and might even call us to do something senseless, but He asks not for our logic, our money or even our faith, but only for our obedience; it's when Jesus is Lord over our lives that we allow Him most to move.
