I Thought
2 Kings 5:11 But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.
If you have kids have you ever heard them utter that phrase, “I THOUGHT?” Have you even used it yourself in conversation? That is Naaman’s issue here. He thought he knew how things were going to play out so to speak. He thought he knew how God was going to handle things in healing him of his leprosy. How often are we in the same situation? We make decisions based on what we thought. We say “I THOUGHT” at times due to our:
• Lack of listening
Naaman heard but didn’t want to listen. He was told what to do in vs 10:
2 Kings 5:10 And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.
Naaman didn’t like this response, because he thought the response would be something that required no work on his part. He just wanted God to touch him. In Naaman’s mind this was too small a task to be supernatural.
• Lack of trust
We see in vs 12 the lack of trust he has.
2 Kings 5:12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.
Why do I have to wash in the dirty river? If I’m gonna have to do something then why can’t I do it my way. Naaman perceived his way as the cleaner way. It was too dirty to be clean in his mind. Maybe we see some things as the easier way, so WE THOUGHT it would be the best way.
• Lack of discipline
We see at the end of vs 12 Naaman went away in a rage. He didn’t like the answer so he left. How often do we do this? We don’t like God’s answer cause WE THOUGHT we had a better way, so we just stop. We fail to realize sometimes that the biggest moves of God begin in the smallest steps of obedience. This gets us to the place where we don’t have the discipline to follow God’s direction, and therefore, it takes others to talk sense into us.
2 Kings 5:13 And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it ? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?
How many times are we not listening and not following God because of that simple phrase and thinking we know better.
God bless you today!
Bro. Josh Richardson
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