2 Kings 5:14
So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God. His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
How are you at following instructions? At 4 and 6 years old we are working very hard at getting the boys to follow instructions around the house. To illustrate the point Abby told Liam a story about a test she once took in grade school. The teacher handed out the test and told everyone to carefully read through everything before starting. Everyone went to work and it was immediately evident that no one read though everything. She said if they had read through the entire test before answering, like the teacher told them, they would have seen the last instruction which was "Now that you have followed instruction #1, and you have read everything before doing anything, please follow only instruction #2, and sit back to see which of your classmates didn't follow instruction #1." (I found a copy of it online!)
When Naaman went to Israel looking for healing he was expecting some fancy exposition of God's power through Elisha. What he got instead were instructions to go take a bath. Not just any bath, a bath in a muddy river! Back where Naaman was from there were beautiful spring fed rivers that looked way better than the Jordan. Fortunately he complied with the instructions of Elisha and was healed. But it was deeper than just the healing of his leprosy, Naaman received a spiritual healing as well. In our lives we may expect things to be or go one way, but God has other plans. Sometimes he just wants us to follow instructions. And when we do… watch out.. The healing will be bigger than we could ever have imagined. As we approach the halfway point of Lent think about the weird instructions God is asking you to follow.
