But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’ –
2 Kings 5:11
Naaman didn’t like the way Elisha handled him. He didn’t also like the river Elisha asked him to go and wash in. It is like a patient who doesn’t like the way a doctor asks him to open his mouth for examination or some other odd instructions given to him.2 Kings 5:11
In our passage today, Naaman related why he was furious at Elisha. He had expectations. In his mind, he had developed a picture of how he expected Elisha to act; which included ‘wave his hand over the place’. Naaman’s expectations might have been informed by what he had seen a magician do in his country. He wanted Elisha to come out and perform spectacular acts of oratory accompanied by a flurry of hand movements. Instead, Naaman got a simple instruction delivered by the prophet’s servant.
Many times, we come to God with our own ideas of how we expect Him to relate to us. Some of us have grand visions of how God should speak to us. In our imagination, we associate the voice of God with a deep baritone voice intoning ecclesiastical words. Because of that, we are unable to discern the voice of the Lord when He speaks in a still small voice. Some of us expect that our miracle would be accompanied by mighty foot-stomping or some similar gesture. As a result, when God quietly touches us by His Spirit, we fail to receive the miracle He is giving to us.
We must not allow our expectations to blind us to God’s reality. We cannot impose our will on the Lord. When we come to the Lord in prayer, we must refuse the temptation to tell God how He must answer our prayer. Naaman was so furious because the image he had in his mind of what Elisha would do to make him well, did not materialize. He was disappointed and just walked away from Elisha’s house without any intention to go and wash in the Jordan. I pray that you never miss God’s visitation because of wrong expectations.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, deliver me from wrong expectations. Help me to put aside my pride so I can always hear from You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen!Scripture Reading:
2 Kings 5:1-19
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