December 3, 2021
Your Need—God’s Opportunity
Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man with his master, and highly respected, ...The man was also a valiant warrior, but he was a leper. Now the Arameans had gone out in bands and had taken captive a little girl from the land of Israel; and she waited on Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, I wish that my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his leprosy." ... It happened when Elisha the man of God ...sent word to the king, ...Now let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel." So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots and stood at the doorway of the house of Elisha. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you and you will be clean." But Naaman was furious and went away and said, Behold, I thought, `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 cure the leper.' Are not Abanah and 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. Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, `Wash, and be clean'?" So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean. 2 kings 5: 7-14
Every time we follow God’s leading, our obedience opens the door for Him to do great things in our life. Yet we often resist obeying, because His directions appear impractical or unreasonable—and so we doubt His intentions toward us.
Naaman couldn’t understand why the Lord would tell him to go wash seven times in the Jordan River. He thought he’d already exercised faith in coming to the prophet Elisha. He’d hoped for a spectacular supernatural healing of his disease—not irrational-sounding instructions to go on what seemed a fool’s mission. After all, the great Syrian commander didn’t see anyone else dipping in the muddy waters and being healed. But God’s instructions were specifically for him and no one else.
If you decide you’ll do what God says only on the basis of what you see others doing, you’ll miss out on His best for you. Suppose Naaman decided he just couldn’t do something that appeared so crazy. He would have died a leper. Likewise, when you hold out on obeying God completely, you’ll never know what He’d have done in your life if only you had trusted Him.
Needs are opportunities for God to transform the lives of His children. He knows that for us to become everything He created us to be, we must learn to believe in—and act on—His trustworthiness.
When facing a challenge, you have two choices. One is to focus on what you lack and how God doesn’t appear to be responding the way you want. The other option is to recognize that your need indicates His desire to teach you something. Then you can rejoice over all that He plans to accomplish.
Listen to Dr. Michael W. Wesley Sr. on OnePlace.com
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