2 Kings 1-6

First of all...congratualtions...we are half way through the Bible. What a blessing! I want to remind you of 2 Timothy 3:16 before we continue: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" You are actually reading the Word of God. Words that he breathed onto pages for you to read so that you can know Him and know his immeasurable love for you and have a relationship with Him. I want to encourage you to persevere and continue to dig through the treasures of His letters to you so that you might understand a little bit just how wide and deep and high his love for you is. I encourage you today to renew your committment to the reading plan and continue with us on this journey of love. I'll be praying for you!

Today's passage: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%201-6&version=ESV#en-ESV-9650

My focus today is on the first part of 2 Kings chapter 5. Naaman is a leper who has been given a word from God in verse 10. "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean."

Most of us probably thought…if that were me, I would have high tailed it out of there and run down to the river and started washing myself immediately. But something holds Naaman back. Let’s take a look at the first part of his response in verse 11:

“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.”

Naaman wanted the easy way out. He wanted God to just snap his fingers and fix his problem. He didn’t want to be bothered with the faithful obedience that God required of him. He just wanted the quick & easy fix. Many of us have probably fallen into this same trap. Instead of faithfully and obediently opening the door that God puts in front of us, we stand and wait for Him to drop the answer to our prayers on our doorstep with a big red bow and a note that says “To my sweet child Kelly, From God, with love.”

Verse 12 shows the second part of his response that holds him back from healing.

“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?" So he turned and went away in a rage.

Naaman thought he had a better idea than God. The rivers of Damascus are better, can’t I just wash there? Naaman wasn’t just your average humble and defeated leper. He was a commander of an army who has been victorious in battle. He is used to coming up with his own battle plans, so when God didn’t answer the way he wanted him to answer, he turned away from healing in rage. He questioned God’s infinite wisdom and offered up his version of what he thought was a better plan.

He almost missed out on an amazing miraculous blessing of healing. And although I would like to think that I would have made a beeline for the river Jordan, I realize that often in the past, I haven’t. God isn’t always a God of quick and easy fixes. He often doesn’t answer our prayers the way we expect him to or want him to. He heals us physically and spiritually in His own perfect way and in his own perfect timing.

In verse 13, we see that Naaman is blessed with servants who provide wise counsel. They encourage him to obey the simple command so that he may be healed. They’re like – “dude, you could actually be healed and you’re not going to take advantage of it?” Only when Naaman finally concedes to the word of God and obediently follows his plan, is he fully healed of his leprosy.

We are probably all a lot more like Naaman than we care to admit. But we can’t let our desire for a quick and easy fix get in the way of a beautiful blessing. God’s ways are higher than our ways and his wisdom is infinite. Pray that God will surround you with wise counsel so that you don’t ignore his guidance. Ask God to open your eyes to any pride or disobedience or laziness that is blocking the doorway to an answered prayer. Ask Him to give you the strength to overcome these hindrances to His blessings. Feel free to share your comments or experiences on the blog regarding today's passage. We'd love to hear about your own expereinces!

Todays' post submitted by Kelly Coxe