Immerse (Ordinary Time - Day 111)

2 Kings 5:1-19

There's this guy named Naaman, and he's the commanding officer in the army of Aram. Through him, Aram has won many victories. He has a very high status with the king, but also has a grievous skin disease. One day, as Aram is conducting a raid on Israel, a young girl is captured who ends up being the maid of Naaman's wife.

One day she says to Naaman's wife, "Does Naaman know about the prophet of Samaria? He can surely heal his skin disease?"

When Naaman hears about this, he runs to the king and asks for his blessing to go to Samaria to see the prophet. The king blesses him, and also gives him a letter of introduction to give to the King of Israel. Naaman shows up to the king of Israel with letter in hand, and the king gets freaked out. He says, "Who am I, a god? I don't have the power to bring life or death. What does this mean?"

Elisha hears about what's going on and tells the king, "Dude, this letter is for me, not you. Send Naaman to me so he can know there is one true God of Israel." Naaman goes to Elisha's place and receives instruction from his servant Gehazi. "Go to the Jordan and immerse yourself seven times. Your skin will be healed and you will be like new."

Instead of doing what Elisha says, Naaman gets mad as a hornet and stomps off. "He doesn't even come out to greet me? What the hell?" Naaman's servants catch up to him and say, "If the prophet asked you to do something heroic and hard, you would have done it with no complaints. But, he's only asked you to wash in the Jordan. What's so hard about that?"

Naaman changes his mind and does as Elisha has instructed. He goes to river, immerses himself seven times, and his skin turns new. He's healed. He can't believe it, and goes back to Elisha to offer him a gift of gratitude. Elisha refuses to take a payment because he doesn't want any of the credit that belongs to God. Naaman says, "I finally know beyond a doubt that there is no god but the God of Israel. I'm convinced. There is one thing I need to ask pardon for though. My master worships at Rimmon, and he needs help getting around. I help him get to the shrine to worship. Can you see to it that God pardons me for this?"

Elisha says, "Everything will be all right. Go in peace."

As a recovering alcoholic, I know what it's like to not want to listen to anybody who thinks they have a solution to my problems. The warnings were always there, but I was not willing to take heed. I had to get beat up, trampeled, and hopeless before I was ready to listen to anyone. But, when I finally did listen, the healing process began. It's the same with any affliction that I face. Whether it be anger, addiction to pornography, or addiction to money, the thinking that got me into the problem isn't going to be what gets me into the solution. I'm going to have to eventually listen to someone other than me.

The healing process starts with taking instruction from somebody else, but usually that can't happen until I'm convinced that my thinking isn't working. When that happens, I am inwardly and outwardly admitting that I am done and have no solution for my problems.

For Naaman, he thought it was absurd to wash in the nasty Jordan River. In his mind, the rivers of Damascus were much cleaner and safe to wash in. Logically, this made sense. But, he was still trying to use his thinking to get rid of the problem. It was only when he submitted his thinking and took on an act of faith, that he got into the Jordan River and followed instructions.

This seems to be a common theme in the book of 2 Kings: the logical way out isn't always the best way out.

Today's Action: What is one thing holding us back right now? Pray that God's will be done in that area, then go to one trusted person and ask for instruction. Follow the instructions. Let the healing process begin.