So often we miss out on what God wants to do for us because He doesn’t do it the way we think He should. We work up an idea in our minds about how He’s going to heal us, for instance. We think He’s going to send some famous preacher to lay hands on us or that He’s going to knock us off our feet with a blast of His power. When He doesn’t, we let our faith drop and foul up what He had actually planned to do.
That’s what Naaman did. He went to Elisha expecting to be healed in a particular way. When it didn’t happen that way, the Bible says, he went away in a rage.
What Elisha told him to do was simple. Dip seven times in the Jordan. Naaman could do that. But it didn’t fit his idea of how his healing should take place. He thought Elisha would heal him by waving his hands around and calling on the Name of the Lord.
Naaman stormed away and he would have missed out on his healing if one of his servants hadn’t talked him into giving Elisha’s instructions a try.
I used to be like that. I wanted spectacular experiences from God so badly I was missing out on the experiences God had planned for me. Once I realized that, I quit looking for feelings and spectacular manifestations and just started expecting God to keep His Word.
I remember I went to a meeting one night with my ankle messed up terribly. The pain was so severe it went from my foot all the way up to my shoulder blades. But I went into that meeting expecting God to heal me.
During the praise service, I ignored the pain in my foot and just sang and worshiped with everyone else. When the preaching started, I got my Bible and got involved in the Word. Sure enough, sometime during that service I was healed. I don’t know when it was. I didn’t feel anything. I didn’t see any sparklers go off. I didn’t even realize I’d been healed until after the service. I got about halfway to the door and thought, «Glory to God, my foot’s well.»
Don’t let your own ideas of how God’s going to work rob you of your healing or your deliverance or your prosperity. Just trust Him and let Him do things His way. He will work mightily in you.
Scripture Study: 2 Kings 5:1-14
