2 Kings 5:9-14 “Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha's house. (10) 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." (11) 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.' (12) 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. (13) And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, 'Wash, and be clean'?" (14) So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above, the Holy Spirit gives us an example of a specific instruction given by the Spirit that cannot be found in the written word of God. In this account we see that Naaman certainly had faith that Elisha could heal him, for he would not have travelled all the way from Syria to Israel to see Elisha if he didn’t believe that the prophet could heal him. And yet we see that when he came to Elisha for his healing that initially he received nothing from the Lord. This passage reveals to us that the reason he wasn’t healed was because he chose not act on the specific instruction given to him by the Spirit of God. And so even though Naaman had faith to receive his healing through the prophet’s ministry, there was another issue that God wanted to deal with first, i.e. his pride. His pride was hurt, firstly because Elisha himself had not addressed him directly but had sent his servant to deal with him. And then his pride was further hurt because he was instructed to wash himself in a river that he viewed as unclean. Eventually Naaman’s servants were able to talk sense into the Syrian, and he humbled himself and obeyed the words of the prophet and he was completely healed. It is very clear from this account that if we are going to receive our miracles from God, then we are going to have to be obedient to do all that He tells us to do, both in His written word and in that which the Spirit instructs us to do.
Michael E.B. Maher
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