Needing a Miracle?

Good Morning!

I want to share with you one of my quiet time moments I had yesterday and today. Yesterday, I was reading about Naaman's Healing of His Leprosy, 2 Kings chapter 5. It wasn't a very exciting story, maybe even a little on the boring side at first. Sometimes, I find myself feeling a little guilty when reading about miracles in the Bible because I don't get really excited, I almost speed read through them because I know the ending. The drama behind the story is ruined because I know how the story ends-their healed! But, yesterday this story had a twist which caught me off guard, I even laughed out loud!

Let me set the story up for you. This man (Naaman, he's a big wig) who doesn't even believe in the God of Isreal (Naaman believed in a different god) is told by his wife's servant to go ask Elisha (a prophet of God) for healing of his Leprosy. Well, Naaman goes to Elisha's house with chariots and horses (he's a big wig, remember) and knocks on the door. Elisha just sends out a messanger to tell Naaman to go to the Jordan river and wash your body seven times and you'll be healed. This is the funny part...Naaman gets really mad. He says, "I thought you would surely come out to me....call on the name of the Lord, wave your hands over the spots on my body and cure me."

I think this is so funny because my reaction would probably be similar to Naaman's. "What! No waving of the hands over my body, no special songs or words, just a note to take a bath?" Naaman pretty much says, "What is so special about your water, I could take a bath at home," and he leaves mad! Doesn't that just sound like a 21st century American, a.k.a "Do it now", "instant gratification", "my way or the highway." And that's exactly what Naaman did, he hit the highway on his high horses and fancy chariots back home.

Of course there is more to the story and you'll have to read it to find out the ending, I'm not giving it away. But, what dawned on me is how we expect God to do things our way-even how He performs his miracles. I remember as a kid praying and when I finished I would peek my eyes open as if the shiny pink bike I prayed for would be sitting in front of me. Sometimes God wants us to get off our high horses and go bathe in the river to be miracously healed. Other times it may be a long road we must travel with plenty of rest stops that give us opportunities to pull off the road to meet Him along the way. No matter how you get there, I pray that whatever miracle you need in your life happens.