13But his officers tried to reason with him and said, "Sir,* if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn't you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, 'Go wash and be cured!" (2 Kings 5:10)
In the book of 2 Kings, Elisha (termed God his salvation) was son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah, who was from the tribe of Simeon and one of the twelve spies sent into Caanaan to spy out the land. He was also, one of King David's chief herdsman. In the book of Ezekiel, Chapter 8:11, Shaphat was one of seventy men (70) men whom Eziekel saw in his vision sacraficing idols in God's temple. However we can truly say the old adage "like father, like son" had very limited truth when it came to Shaphat and Elisha.
God gave a command to Elijah to anoint Elisha has his successor (1 Kings 19:16). On his way from Sinai to Damacus he found Elisha in the field, ploughing with twelve oxens. He went up to him, throwing his mantle over his shoulders, adopting him as his son and the successor of his prophetical office. For eight years, Elisha became Elijah's close attendant.
Before Elijah was taken away by a whirlwind into Heaven, Elisha asked (2 King 2:9-10):
9When they came to the other side, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken away. And Elisha replied, "Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit and become your successor."
10"You have asked a difficult thing," Elijah replied. "If you see me when I am taken from you, then you will get your request. But if not then you won't.
Elisha, however, did see Elijah being taken away by chariots of fire (2 Kings 2:11-13) and was granted the double portion of Elijah's spirit as he had asked. Elisha performed many miracles. One in particular, was the healing of Naaman, a Syrian commander of the armies of Benhadad II.
Naaman was a non-Isralite (Gentile) who had been afflicted with leprosy. In the bible leprosy is referred to as a "white skin disease", the effects of leprosy caused people to be ousted and rejected, such as it is with AIDS in our society. In the bible these people were called lepers. The first religious exercise of the Pharisees in Biblical times was to thank God that they were not born in any of the four following categories, and they prayed :- “I thank you God that I was not born a Gentile (a foreigner) a slave, a ‘leper’ or a woman! In their ignorance and in a society dominated by patriachal prejudice, they believed that God had placed a “curse” on these four groups of people (sounds familiar, huh?)!
The King of Aram admired Naaman, and during one of the Aramean raids of Israel a young Hebrew girl was given to Naaman's wife as a maid. One day the young girl said to his wife:
3"I wish my master would go to see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal him of his leprosy (2 Kings 5:3)."
Naaman told King Aram what the young girl said, and the King sent a letter of introduction to the King of Israel, requesting that his servant, Naaman be healed of leprosy. When the King of Israel read the letter he became dismayed tearing his clothes and replied:
7"This man sends me a leper to heal! Am I God, that I can give life and take it away? I can see that he's just trying to pick a fight with me (2 Kings 5:7-8)."
Elisha heard that the King of Israel had torn his clothes in dismay and sent him a message saying:
8"Why are you so upset? Send Naaman to me, and he will learn that there is a true prophet here in Israel."
Therefore, Naaman went to see Elisha and waited at the door of his house. However, Elisha sent a messenger unto Naaman telling him to go and wash himself seven times in the Jordan River and he would be healed, and his skin restored (2 Kings 5:10). However, Naaman got upset and walked away, pouting(2 Kings 5:11-12):
11"I thought he would certainly come out to meet me!" he said. "I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me!
12Aren't the rivers of the Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than any of the rivers of Israel? Why shouldn't I wash in them and be healed?" So Naaman turned and went away in a rage.
How is it, that so many of us are just like Naaman? Missing out on our blessings, because we fail to adhere to the Word of God. Naaman was too concerned with how he believed he should be healed, rather than accept the Word of the Prophet and be healed. There are a lot of Christians today, who are waiting for a supernatural experience from God. They are waiting on some sort of emotional experience to prove that He Is.
To understand God's infinite powers, we must first understand the definition of miracle:
"A miracle is an event in the external world brought about by the immediate agency or the simple volition of God, operating without the use of means capable of being discerned by the senses, and designed to authenticate the divine commission of a religious teacher and the truth of his message (John 2:18; Matt. 12:38). It is an occurrence at once above nature and above man. It shows the intervention of a power that is not limited by the laws either of matter or of mind, a power interrupting the fixed laws which govern their movements, a supernatural power. The suspension or violation of the laws of nature involved in miracles is nothing more than is constantly taking place around us. One force counteracts another: vital force keeps the chemical laws of matter in abeyance; and muscular force can control the action of physical force."
In short, miracles, being out of the common course of nature and beyond the power of man, they are fitted to convey the impression of the presence and power of God. Whereby God never performs a miracle whereby he can use natural means. Such as with Naaman, he thought the power of God lied in the best of the rivers, and not in the power of the Word of the God's prophet, Elisha.
Noticed, Elisha told the messenger to tell Naaman to dip in the river "Jordan" seven times. It was God who had spoken through the prophet to tell Naaman to dip in the river of Jordan. If he wanted Naaman to dip into the rivers of Damacus, Pharpar or Abana. Don't you think he would have told the prophet, so?
How many times have you been disappointed because you believed God failed to act on your behalf? I can remember when I began dating my daughter's dad. At some point, during the turmoil of the 10 year on and off again relationship, I sought the guidance of the Lord. I would beg God to let me walk away from this man and never looked back. Well, I walked away a few times and looked back a few too many times. However as much as I prayed, it seemed I could not get the man out of my life. Now, I realize God had made several ways of escape for me, on more than one occasion. There were many times, when I could have ended the relationship as well as the verbal abuse. But, I didn't. Because, I was too busy looking for a supernatural way of escape where there was natural means. Such as, orders of protection, notice to evict, police intervention (if necessary), relocation, etc.
Now some of you may feel it's not as easy to get rid of a brother, as I forementioned. But in essence, it really is. I, too thought that I had to be deliver from this guy, by some supernatural act of God. But, he provided me a way of escape each time, it just that I was too busy looking for Him to fix, what I could fix, myself.
You see if I had known what God said about me in His love journals during those times, were true. I would have never ended up with a broken man in the first place. I spent far too many years, trying to fix a man who only God can fix. I didn't see myself as the alluring, beautiful, unique, special and extraordinary woman I am today.
I, like Naaman wanted to wash in the waters of Damacus, Pharpar and Abana. Because in these waters, I believed there was "special healing (self help books, ministry, tapes, etc)." I too, wanted to see the hand of God move and heal me of the "leprosy" I equated with love. As unto Elisha, he told me to dip in the waters of Jordan through the personage of His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. By dipping in the Living Water of God's Word, I could be healed, renewed and restored.
In the 7 Chapter of Luke a Roman officer's slave was sick unto death. The officer had heard about the miracles Jesus had performed, so he sent some jewish elders to ask Jesus to heal his slave. The Roman officer was devoted to the Jewish people and helped them in every which way he could. Jesus went with the elders, but before they arrived at the officer's house, he sent some friends to turn them away (luke 7:6-10):
6"Lord don't trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor.
7I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soliders. I need only to say 'Go', and they go, or 'Come,' and they come. And if I say to my slaves, 'Do this, and they do it."
Jesus, was amazed by the response of the Roman Officer. Why? Because of the officer's shepherd love for his servant and his absolute trust in the authority of the word of Jesus. You see, there were many human barriers between Jesus and the officer. There was a barrier between Jews and the Gentiles (racial), soldier and Rabbi (professional), and conqueror and conquered (class). The Jews despised the Gentiles as dogs while the Gentiles called the Jews "low class colonial people". They hated each other. How did the Roman officer overcome these human barriers? As a Gentile, he may have hesitated asking Jesus’ help directly. So he did not go to Jesus. Instead he asked the elders of the Jews to deliver his request. It was not easy for him to ask their favor since he was a high ranking officer in the Roman army.
So, in order to do this he humbled himself and asked the elders for a favor: "Would you please go to Jesus and ask that he come and heal my servant?" In order to help his servant, the Roman officer threw away his human pride as the Roman officer. He humbled himself and asked Jesus’ help through the elders of the Jews. His humility came from his love for his dying servant.
Can you see the difference in contrast between Naaman the Syrian officer and the Roman Officer? Both men were Gentiles who were despised by Jews because of their racial class. Both men went to others, to petition the Lord for a healing (Naaman the healing of leprosy and the Roman officer's healing of his servant).
However, the Jews asked for Jesus’ touch and demanded his miraculous power. But, for the Roman officer (Gentile), the word of Jesus was enough. So he asked Jesus, “Say the word and my servant will be healed.” Naaman, like the Jews wanted a miraculous healing, possibly full of fan fare for Elisha to prove he was a prophet of God. As you can see, Jesus was amazed by the faith of the Roman officer, which said speak the "Word only and my servant will be healed." Because, his faith was based on the authority of Jesus' words.
Naaman, on the other hand, had to be reason with by his troops to obey the word of God through Elisha (2 Kings 5:13)
13But his officers tried to reason with him and said, "Sir,* if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn't you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he say simply, 'Go wash and be cured!'"
Possibly under duress, Naaman followed the advice of his troops and went down into the river Jordan and dipped seven times as instructed by Elisha. At which time he was healed and his skin was that of a young child. He went back to Elisha and declared that there was no God in all the world, except in Israel.
Now the bible doesn't give us a time span of how long it took Naaman to go and dip into the water, as asked by his troops. However, I can imagine it took a pretty good amount of time, before he did as he was instructed to do.
How many times has the Lord gave you a thought or a word and you held onto it, trying to determine if it's the voice of the Lord or not? How many times, have you set things on the back burner, believing that if it's the will of the Lord, He will provide you with a miraculous sign?
Just as Elisha told Naaman to go and dipped in the river of Jordan and washed seven times, he would be renewed, restored and healed. God is also asking you the same question, "Why haven't you washed yet?" What is in your life that is preventing you to be cleaned up by the Word of God? What is preventing you from acting in faith, like the Roman officer, by saying to the Lord, "just say the word only?" What unique gift has God given you that you need to display to this world? Why are you not accepting your call to greatness?
In the 1 Chapter of Luke, verse 45, Elizabeth told Mary she was blessed because she believed that the Lord would do what he said. Maybe it's high time, for you wash yourself in God's Word. Read and meditate on what He says about you. Spend time with Him, whereas, He will reveal himself too you. You will find, He wants nothing but the best for you. Then, one day you will say as I've said so many times before:
"What took me so long to wash!"
Now, I ask you: "Really......now, why haven't you washed yet?"
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