I Want to Do It My Way! (2 Kings 5:10-12)

And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “ Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” 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 5:10-12

Poor Naaman! The mighty warrior! He was used to doing things his way! But he was about to be humbled by God!

Naaman certainly came with an attitude! He was a leper and wanted to be healed but when he was given specific instructions by God, through the prophet Elisha, he refused to obey. Why couldn’t God just wave His hand and immediately heal him? Why this river? What’s wrong with our rivers? Complain...complain...complain! What arrogance! Naaman presumed that he could tell God what to do! It was as if Naaman were saying, “What’s the matter, God! Even I know how you can best do this. So do it!”

I wonder how many of us have a similar attitude when God asks us to do something? God, in His Sovereign Way, knows the best way for us to do things, to carry out His Will. And it is all to bring glory to Him, not because it is necessarily convenient for us.

But sometimes, we think we know better. And we will fight God’s direction with every ounce of strength. Or we may take a passive-aggressive stance and drag our feet to accomplish the task, in a desperate and futile effort to change God’s mind and have Him give us another path to take.

Don’t be like Naaman! In the end, God always has His way. And along the way, we learn that His way was the correct way all along, whether we want to believe it or not!

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.