The Naaman in YOU: Nearly Missing God’s Blessing

 He brought the letter to king of Israel. It read: “This is a letter of introduction for my servant Naaman, whom I have sent to be cured of his skin disease.” 7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill or restore life? Why does he ask me to cure a man of his skin disease? Certainly you must see that he is looking for an excuse to fight me!”  2 Kings 5:5-14 (Bible verses adapted from The Word, a free PC software).

Today I want us to talk about Naaman, the Syrian Commander. I described him already in one of my posts recently. The Bible tells us that he went to meet the King of Israel with a letter of approval from his King of Syria. Remember, this is all birthed by a little slave girl in Naaman’s house.

Surprisingly, the King of Israel tore his clothes upon receipt of the letter which Naaman had brought. He thought that the King in Syria was just looking for a way to start another bloody war with his country. He was clueless as to how best to deal with the situation. It beats me to know from his reaction that he had completely forgotten about the man of God living in the country Israel. His name was Elisha. If he did, he would have thought of directing him to the Man of God for help rather than shouldering the responsibility which he could not carry.

Elisha then sent word to the King to let Naaman come to his house. Naaman did as instructed. He expected honour when he arrived at the Prophet’s house. Verse 11 reveals to us that he even had prepared a formula for his healing before hand. What a mistake! Many Christians today have been engulfed and sunk in anxiety and hopelessness because we have set our own formulas for God to follow. We dictate to God what and how we want instead of Him deciding what is best for us as His children. Look at what He did with Naaman; instead of performing his formula, God had a completely different approach to his problem. All that Naaman needed was to bathe himself in River Jordan upon instruction from the Man of God. How do you discern God’s instructions through His servants?

Many Christians have fallen into the trap of pride and they do not want let God decide for them rather, they do the opposite. We belive in our own ideas. We think our ideas are always the best and will work perfectly without the Spirit of God. God knows everything that we desire and decides which ones are best for us.

The story further gets heated up as Naaman refuses to go to River Jordan as instructed, an action which is in contrast to his formula. He believes that the water in River Jordan is not cleaner than what he has in Abana and Pharpar back home. Imagine how many times we have failed to listen to and carry out God’s instruction because of what we have at home. What is delaying your blessing today? Is it Pharpar and Abana? Pharpar and Abana could be your position at work, society, church or something you cherish most. Things that you feel you cannot do without them! God is speaking to you personally: It is about time you realized that it is not this material world that will give solutions to your problems but, your acceptance that God is in control and discernment of God’s Spirit that will make you understand that God does not work like humans do.

Leave everything to God and He will do more than what you expected. Remember what happened to Naaman? He got cured as well as a fresh skin like that of a baby. What a mighty God we serve! The one that turns old things to become new. The one that turns wretched people like us into Priests, Prophets and Evangelist through His abundant GRACE! God is ready to to change every part of your life that has been delaying your blessing into fruitfulness if you only accept and truly believe in Him. He will overwrite your old self.

Stay blessed as you let God in full control of your life. God is able to do it in your life the way He wants you to be not as we want to be through our formulas. Can I hear your loud AMEN!