Trusting in God and His process during moments of difficulty tests our faith. We can face many different obstacles, and it’s often challenging to step back and see the full picture.
Bible stories help us to see the Lord’s bigger picture for each one of us. As we walk in faith, it allows us to see the true beauty in what is unknown to us, but clear to Him.
Naaman’s journey of healing
Naaman was an Aramean commander favored for his battlefield success by the king of Aram (located in today’s Syria). Though he was very successful, Naaman had incurable leprosy.
Naaman’s servant girl, a Samaritan captive, suggested that he visit Elisha—a prophet of the Lord. When Naaman arrived at Elisha’s house, Elisha didn’t even come out to see him. Instead, he sent out a messenger who told Naaman to wash himself in the notoriously dirty Jordan River seven times and only then would his skin be healed.
Considering his high position in the Aramean army, this is far from the welcome and powerful healing Naaman expected. Rather than accepting this instruction with gratitude, he reacted in vain rage.
In 2 Kings 5:11-12, he demands, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?”
Naaman’s pride felt attacked. He wanted a noble, instant healing and felt too honorable to complete this task in the dirty Jordan River.
But his servants reasoned with him in the next verse and said, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean?’” So, Naaman went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, just as God instructed him to.
As soon as he stepped out of the water, his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
God’s Plan for You
God laid the path for Naaman, both through his leprosy and his healing. He works the same in each of us, presenting us with choices that ultimately test our faith. Naaman’s story reminds us that God works in mysterious ways. We don’t need to have everything figured out or know why something will work.
As Jeremiah assures us, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and hope” [Jeremiah 29:11 ESV]. We’re simply called to come humbly and react with faith and trust.
