Unmet Expectations

 April 30, 2023

The story begins unexpectedly, giving honor to an enemy of Israel:

“Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper.” —II Kings 5:1 

The story continues:

“And the Syrians had gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman’s wife. Then she said to her mistress, “If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.” —2 Kings 5:2-3 

Naaman traveled to Israel and to the prophet the little girl had mentioned. That prophet, Elisha, didn’t even meet with Naaman, but sent his servant to tell him to go wash seven times in the Jordan river. Naaman was not impressed with such cavalier treatment.

“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.’ Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.” —2 Kings 5:11-12 

Naaman’s servants finally convinced him to do what Elisha said, resulting in his complete healing. But the story makes me wonder. How often do we miss what God is doing because he isn’t doing it the way we expected? I wrote yesterday about losing my way. I was expecting God to do things in a certain way, and when he didn’t, I got discouraged…and lost. I wanted his blessing on my terms, which is never a good way to approach life.

In a conversation with my son awhile back, he said to me, “We need to believe in God’s promises, not in the outcomes.” He was right. Too often, our faith begins to fail when we don’t see the answers we expect in the manner or time frame we expect them in. Trusting in God means trusting that he will fulfill his promises even when that fulfillment doesn’t match our image of what that looks like. In short, it means we let God be God, realizing that we are not.