So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. But Naaman was wroth, 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 strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
2 Kings 5:9-14
Naaman was a great man. He was a leader in Syria who suffered from leprosy.
Naaman heard about Elisha the prophet. A servant told him about the man of God and also about healings that had occurred through his ministry. This prompted Naaman to try and visit Elisha.
Elisha did not even give Naaman the time of day. He sent a servant with instructions to go and dip seven times in the Jordan. The Jordan was considered to be dirty and so the prophet’s instruction upset Naaman.
Naaman almost missed his healing because of his anger. One of his aides approached him and encouraged him to try what the prophet had asked him to do.
Many people miss their healing because of their pride. They are set in their minds as to how God “must” heal them. He will often instruct us to do something like dipping in the Jordan river that does not make sense from a natural perspective.
We must be open to whatever God directs us to do. If we want to receive healing or we want to be used to minister healing we will have to learn obedience.
Pride is the enemy of faith.
Humility is required to walk in faith.
And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
Mark 1:40
Who knew what this many looked like when he approached Jesus. He probably had open sores and might have been missing a limb or two. The Law condemned him to a lonely life totally isolated from contact with any “normal” people. He should have stood a distance off and shouted unclean and could have been stoned for approaching Jesus.
The leper humbled showed humility in his approach to Jesus. Naaman exhibited humility by submitting to the prophet’s instruction to dip in the “dirty” Jordan river. Both men were healed.
There are times to forget about what you are wearing or what people think about you. I have heard people complain about having to stand in service or kneel to pray in front of everyone else. If we want to receive all that God has for us, we must learn humility.
We need to pause and examine the leper’s question.
“If you will, you can make me clean.”
“If” is the badge of doubt. The leper had faith in Jesus’ ability to heal him but doubted if Jesus would be willing to.
The leper had some faith but faith is not just faith in every area of life. It is possible to be strong in faith for one area of life but weak in other areas. There are people who have strong faith in the reality of God but no faith in His ability to heal them.
The leper did not have faith to receive his healing. He did have faith. It was that faith which moved him to leave his isolated life to seek Jesus.
The leper believed that Jesus could heal him but was not healed. He was not healed because he questioned Jesus’ will. It is possible for a person to die of cancer believing that God can heal them.
Believing God can heal is not faith to receive healing. There are reasons why some people are healed and others are not. I do not know all of them but I do know that it is God’s will for all to be healed.
A revelation of God’s will is the foundation for faith to receive healing. A person who is questioning God’s will in regards to their health is not standing in faith to receive.
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