"So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.
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.
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.
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.
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?"
2 Kings 5:9-13
This reminds me of a passage in the Book of Mormon: "because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished" (1 Nephi 17:41). Naaman's expectations were very high when he went to the prophet. He expected attention and ritual and probably respect and honor. After all, his king had sent thousands of pieces of gold to Israel's king to get him healed. He was an important man. Instead, he was sent off to do something simple that didn't seem to justify the time and expense and effort of his journey. He got mad and walked away.
And isn't that what we do, often, in our own lives? We go to God, we ask him for help, and our expectations are high. We want drama. Perhaps a little lightning from heaven or instant healing or a big bag of money. We wouldn't mind a little ritual and respect as well. After all, we're important. And then God asks us, instead, to do something simple. Something that doesn't seem dramatic enough for our current effort or desperation. And we, like Naaman, doubt. Like Naaman, we are angry that the Lord isn't taking us seriously or meeting our needs.
The saving grace for Naaman were his servants, who humbly risked his wrath and asked him a good question that helped him to see his own pride. If the prophet had asked him to complete some intensely difficult and complicated ritual, he would have been all over it, but washing was too much? So, after this he tries it and is healed. He goes back to the prophet and tries to pay him for the healing, but Elisha refuses. The lesson for Syria perhaps being that there is a God of miracles, but he doesn't work for someone else's agenda or base his decisions on importance or wealth.
On an individual level though, there is another lesson for us here and perhaps that is that we need to kick our self-importance down a notch, and recognize that what God asks us to do is always worth doing. Yes, we may have heard it a thousand times before, and perhaps we are already doing some of the things that he asks, but the simple things matter. Church, prayer, scripture study, tithing, fasting, baptism, etc... all of these things and many others are things that we have heard about over and over, but they still matter to an incredible extent in each of our individual lives, and in a lot of ways either pre-solve or prepare us for the harder things (and perhaps the secret advanced levels of the easy things that we discover once we master beginner mode). :)
Today, let's humble ourselves as Naaman did, and do as God asks. Whether we understand why or not, God's commandments are always for our good, and will always bring us closer to our better and more perfect selves. Let's work on letting go of the pride that is holding us back from God and getting in the way of our own miracles.
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.
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.
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.
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?"
2 Kings 5:9-13
This reminds me of a passage in the Book of Mormon: "because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished" (1 Nephi 17:41). Naaman's expectations were very high when he went to the prophet. He expected attention and ritual and probably respect and honor. After all, his king had sent thousands of pieces of gold to Israel's king to get him healed. He was an important man. Instead, he was sent off to do something simple that didn't seem to justify the time and expense and effort of his journey. He got mad and walked away.
And isn't that what we do, often, in our own lives? We go to God, we ask him for help, and our expectations are high. We want drama. Perhaps a little lightning from heaven or instant healing or a big bag of money. We wouldn't mind a little ritual and respect as well. After all, we're important. And then God asks us, instead, to do something simple. Something that doesn't seem dramatic enough for our current effort or desperation. And we, like Naaman, doubt. Like Naaman, we are angry that the Lord isn't taking us seriously or meeting our needs.
The saving grace for Naaman were his servants, who humbly risked his wrath and asked him a good question that helped him to see his own pride. If the prophet had asked him to complete some intensely difficult and complicated ritual, he would have been all over it, but washing was too much? So, after this he tries it and is healed. He goes back to the prophet and tries to pay him for the healing, but Elisha refuses. The lesson for Syria perhaps being that there is a God of miracles, but he doesn't work for someone else's agenda or base his decisions on importance or wealth.
On an individual level though, there is another lesson for us here and perhaps that is that we need to kick our self-importance down a notch, and recognize that what God asks us to do is always worth doing. Yes, we may have heard it a thousand times before, and perhaps we are already doing some of the things that he asks, but the simple things matter. Church, prayer, scripture study, tithing, fasting, baptism, etc... all of these things and many others are things that we have heard about over and over, but they still matter to an incredible extent in each of our individual lives, and in a lot of ways either pre-solve or prepare us for the harder things (and perhaps the secret advanced levels of the easy things that we discover once we master beginner mode). :)
Today, let's humble ourselves as Naaman did, and do as God asks. Whether we understand why or not, God's commandments are always for our good, and will always bring us closer to our better and more perfect selves. Let's work on letting go of the pride that is holding us back from God and getting in the way of our own miracles.
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