“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 5:14
Naaman was a powerful general from an enemy nation who suffered terrible leprosy. On the advice of a young girl taken by his army, he went to the prophet Elisha to be healed. But he didn’t like what Elisha told him. It was too simple. It cost him nothing. He couldn’t contribute anything to his healing. He just had to believe and obey. When told to go dip in the river Jordan seven times to be cleansed, Naaman became angry. He’d brought treasure to buy his healing. He expected a dramatic act of healing appropriate for a man of his rank and power. He expected to have to work for his healing.
All that would have been fine with him. But to just believe the strange teaching of God’s prophet and obey it? That he couldn’t handle. He rejected Elisha’s words and planned to return to Damascus. Fortunately, his fellow travelers convinced him that if he was prepared to do hard things for his healing, then he should do the simple thing – believe Elisha and obey what he said. And it worked! He was instantly and completely healed. Not because the river had special powers but because God graciously cleansed Naaman when he believed with faith that resulted in obedience.
The healing of General Naaman of Aram is a picture of God’s amazing grace given through faith in Jesus Christ. Naaman’s anger and resistance to the simplicity of it all is a picture of why many refuse and recoil from God’s grace. Like Naaman, there’s nothing we can do to earn or buy our salvation from sin. We can’t do anything to make ourselves clean before the Lord. We can’t pay for it or contribute anything toward it. Jesus did everything for us when He stepped out of eternal glory and into the world, lived a perfect life without any sin, sacrificed Himself on a cross to pay the penalty for our sin, died, and rose from the dead. Because of what Jesus did, all we must do is believe that He is the risen Lord of our life with faith that leads to obedience to Him.
For many people, our complete dependence on God’s grace is too easy. Too uncomfortable. Our treasures don’t help. We can’t contribute anything to our salvation. This offends the sensibilities of many, because we naturally want to fix ourselves. For these reasons, many refuse God’s gracious offer of eternal life in Jesus Christ. Try to persuade them to see reason, as Naaman’s associates did. If they’re willing to do hard things to try and save themselves, pray for them to submit to the humiliation of just depending on God’s grace for salvation. There’s no alternative! #FollowJesus