Redemptive Ramblings

Twenty-five years ago last spring, I knelt on the floor at prayer meeting, begging God for a miracle. I was 16 weeks pregnant, and I had gone that afternoon to get my first ultrasound. I was so excited to see my baby. What should have been a beautiful and joyful experienced taken a turn for the worst. The still screen, the silence from the ultrasound tech. It wasn’t at all like I thought it would be. There was a small anomaly, and the baby looked smaller than it was supposed to be. The technician gave platitudes: perhaps you’re not as far along as we thought you were; if nothing changes, we will do another ultrasound next week; by then, we should be able to see it. 

There was a kindness and a sadness in her tone that let me know she didn’t think that we would find the heartbeat next week. And so that night at prayer meeting, I sobbed my heart out to God on the floor. I prayed that God, the God who could do anything, would work a miracle. That even if my child had died, God would resurrect it and allow it to continue to grow inside of me. The next day, I ended up at the emergency room, cramping and hemorrhaging, not the recipient of the miracle I had requested.

So many of us have stories like this. Prayers were prayed, and we believed that God would come through in a specific way. And He didn’t. Situations where we believed we would see the miraculous, and we didn’t. And sometimes we allow that to cause doubt, because God didn’t do what we thought He would.

The story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5 tells of people who must have faced the same problem. First, let’s look at the little girl in the story. 

Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” 2 Kings 5:2-3 NIV

Surely, captivity as a household slave in Aram wasn’t how this girl thought her life would turn out. She must have been raised in one of the minority of God-fearing homes in Israel at this time; how else would she have the faith to suggest that Naaman go to God to be healed? Did she ever wonder why God allowed her to be taken captive? Maybe. But if she fought with doubt, we know by her response that she won. Because when confronted with a big problem, her response was still faith. She still believed that God was capable of miracles; and not only that, she believed that God would do a miracle for Naaman. Believing God can and believing He will aren’t the same thing. We must believe that God not only can intervene on our behalf, but also that He will. 

Next, let’s look at Naaman. 

Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. 2 Kings 5:4-5 NIV 

He must have been desperate to believe that the God of a defeated people could help him. His own gods had proved powerless. If they hadn’t, he wouldn’t have been open to the idea of going to a different God for a miracle! But even as an idol worshipper, he must have had a soft heart. He went to his king and asked for permission to go to a rival king for healing. And he did it because a slave girl suggested it! When she spoke, the chances of her being listened to were tiny. Yet on her suggestion, Naaman loaded up and took a caravan of gifts and gold to find the prophet and be healed. Yet when the prophet didn’t offer healing according to Naaman’s preconceived ideas, he definitely struggled with doubt.

Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.” But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage. 2 Kings 5:10-12 NIV

Naaman thought he knew what should happen. He thought that God would do it his way. Surely it is no stretch for any of us to see ourselves here! We often think we know what God will do, and how he will do it. And when he doesn’t, we storm off in a huff, sure that He was wrong and that doing the next thing he tells us to do is neither advisable nor worthwhile. Lucky for Naaman, though, he had a habit of paying attention to what his servants suggested to him. (I think this probably speaks to the kind of person he was.) This is the second time in the story that he listened to advice given to him by his own servants.

Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. 2 Kings 5:13-14 NIV

Naaman humbled himself; and he received healing, just not the way he had expected. When we put aside our own expectations of what God will do and how He’ll do it, that’s when we will see Him move. 

The last character I want to look at is the king of Israel.

The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.” As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!” When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 2 Kings 5:6-8 NIV

The king of Israel at this time was Jehoram (sometimes called Joram), the son of Ahab and Jezebel. He already had a history with Elisha. He had seen God work a miracle for Israel’s army through Elisha’s word two chapters earlier. And here, he’s presented with a problem that he has no possibility of solving, a problem with the potential to have severe consequences for his kingdom. And he doesn’t even think of going to the prophet. He doesn’t even consider turning to God. All of his reliance is on himself and his inability to do anything about Naaman and his leprosy problem. 

Down the road of doubt is self-reliance. Because if I don’t truly trust in God, the only one left to trust in is me. And when a problem comes along that is beyond me, all I can do is to “tear my robes” in grief and anger. 

But friends, the good news is that God is trustworthy. My story wasn’t over that day in the ER. God was answering; I just had to be patient to see it. It wasn’t the miracle I asked for. It was a different series of miracles that He was preparing for me. May we always stay open to the miracle, even when life isn’t turning out the way we thought it would, and God isn’t working like we thought He would. Even when the answer isn’t what we wanted, or it doesn’t come in the way we wanted, let’s hold onto our trust in Him.

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