And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’ “Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.—2 Kings 5:10-12
I am always amazed at the strength of the human will and the depth of pride and depravity in the human heart. Truly our hearts are as Jeremiah said, “desperately wicked”...who could know them?
Naaman came all the way from Syria on the word of a captive Israeli servant girl to find healing for his leprosy, and when given instruction on how to find that healing, he refused to submit because it did not appeal to his pride. Truly, salvation is and must be from beginning to end, the power of God. Naaman’s biggest obstacle to healing was his own prideful, wicked heart. My biggest obstacle in following and submitting to my God is the same...me, myself and I. I am so thankful for the wise and godly people my God has surrounded me with as I am sure Naaman was for his wise servants and the good advice he received from them. Crying out with Paul here..O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.—Psalm 19:8
