I believe if God asked either of us to do something great, we would be willing to do it because we know He would help us when things are beyond our abilities to do ourselves. But God never asks us to do anything that is greater than we have the capability to do. With God there is no great or small. All things are the same to Him. We see large and small because we see through the eyes of our capabilities instead of our hearts or our faith.
In 2 Kings 5:10-13, Naaman, commander of the Army of the King of Syria, was sent by God to wash himself in the Jordan river to be healed of his leprosy. Scripture says this: “And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, go wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” Naaman was not happy at hearing this. He expected a visit in person from Elisha. Naaman indeed became furious at the way he was being treated, and he went away in anger. But his servants reminded him that if God had asked him to do a great thing to be heal, wouldn’t he do it? Why then would he make a great deal of doing a small thing like washing in the Jordan. Naaman listened to their counsel and did as Elisha had instructed him. He was healed just like Elisha said he would be.
I can see some of Naaman’s attitude in myself. I believe I am ready to do the great things God would ask me to do, but I get an attitude when I’m asked to do the little thing that is right before me. Why am I this way? Or perhaps, why are we this way? We can see several things in Naaman that may be in us as well.
First, Naaman expected God to answer his prayer the way Naaman saw it happening. Many of us will miss the blessings of God that are right before us because we expect things to happen the way we want them to happen. God’s ways are not our ways. We must remember that.
Naaman became angry at the situation and with God. He got an attitude! In doing so he offered up what he thought was a better way to solve his problem. The problem with this is Naaman could not solve his issue; that is why he needed God. We must remember that our attitudes are the one thing that can take us higher in the favor of God or move us completely out of the favor of God. Choose your attitude well.
Naaman had a talk with himself about how poorly he thought he was being treated by God. He told himself how he could have done what God was asking him to do on his own. Why then, he asked himself, did he need to do anything at all? We must remember that God never treats us poorly. When we come to Him with our problem, God must often heal us first of the unseen problem before He can heal us of the thing that we can see. He is the vine, and we are the branch. We cannot tell the vine where we want to grow. God must be our God, but we try to make Him our God by owning Him. We are His children, and He does with us as it pleases Him. We do not get to do with Him as things please us.
Ultimately Naaman changed His attitude and did as God asked him to do. He was healed because of this. He went on down to the Jordan river and washed himself seven times just like Elisha instructed him to do. Naaman was healed just as Elisha said he would be healed. We must remember to be ready always to do the little things God asks us to do as quickly as it is possible for us. God will not twist our arms to make us do anything. But He will wait patiently on us as He asks us, “Will you do it? Our response should be immediately and boldly, “Yes Lord, I will do it.” Will you do it today? Will you commit to living a life that says whatever the Lord asks of you to do, whether big or small, you will say to Him by your actions, “I will do it”?
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