October 11
Verse of the Day for October 11
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.2 Kings 5:11 KJV
The Key of Endurance · Day 11 of 31
Reflection · 4 min read
He Wanted A Bigger Moment
Naaman is a commander of an army and a leper. He arrives at Elisha's door with horses, chariots and a small fortune, expecting the encounter his position warrants.
Elisha does not come out. He sends a servant with a message: go and wash seven times in the Jordan.
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.
Behold, I thought. That is the whole problem in three words, and it is unusually honest of the text to record it. He had a picture of how his healing would look. The prophet standing there, a hand moving over the place, the name of God called out loud.
What he got was an errand, delivered second-hand, involving a river he considered inferior to the ones back home. His servants have to talk him into it, and their argument is devastating: if he had asked you to do something great, would you not have done it?
He goes down. Seven times, which means six times coming up out of the water unchanged, with the men watching.
Behold, I thought.Then he went down.
Sometimes the delay is not God's. It is the distance between the answer offered and the answer we had pictured.
The seventh time was the same river as the first.
Carry this today
What has God offered that you rejected for being too small?
Pray
Read 2 Kings 5:9–14
9So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. 10And 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. 11But 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. 12Are 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. 13And 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? 14Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
Keep praying
Reflection by Collins Asein, from the daily devotionals in the PrayerKey app. Bible text: King James Version.