The case of Naaman, the Syrian, affords a good illustration of that natural perversity of the human heart which prevents many people from realizing the blessing of God.
Naaman was captain of the armies of Syria, and a great man, but was a leper. In this respect he was like many who live today. Sin is a leprosy no less real than the loathsome disease which afflicted the body of Naaman. It is the leprosy of the soul. Of how many may it be said, as it was of Naaman, "Great, but a leper!"
His leprosy was a complete offset to his greatness. The king of Syria heard that there was a power in Israel to heal disease above that possessed by man, and sent Naaman to the king of Israel to be healed of his malady. And Elisha the prophet sent to the king, and said, "Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall come again to you, and you shall be clean. 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 5:8-11)
Naaman had the plan by which the Lord was to heal him all laid out in his own mind, and because the Lord did not purpose to manifest His power in that way, he went away in a rage. And so it is with people today. They want the Lord to work for them, but they have the plan by which He is to work all arranged in their own minds, and they ask the Lord to work and then watch to see some manifestation of the nature which they have marked out. They want God to work for them in their way. And when something comes from the Lord which is not in their way at all, although perhaps a direct answer to their prayers, they turn away and will not have it. Naaman said: "Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them and be clean?" (2 Kings 5:12)
If he was to be cleansed by washing, he knew a better way of doing it than the Lord had proposed! And just so with us. Our own way seems a great deal better in our eyes than God's way. But God says His ways are as much higher than our ways as the heavens are higher than the earth. (Isaiah 55:9)
But Naaman's servants came to him, and said, "My father, if the prophet had bid you do some great thing, would you not have done it? how much rather then when he says to you, Wash, and be clean?" (2 Kings 5:13)
Men are continually seeking to be cleansed of their soul leprosy by doing some great thing. This is the way it should be by the wisdom of man. It is a fundamental idea of all false religions. By doing some great thing,--going on some weary pilgrimage, enduring long fasts and other bodily afflictions, saying so many thousand prayers, or in some other way exercising his powers of mind or body to their utmost limit--he can so commend himself to God that he will receive from Him what he desires. But when man has done something that he thinks is great, then the glory is his own and not the Lord's; and as God cannot work for the glory of man, his elaborate and laborious plan can only utterly fail.
God's plan, God's message, is, "Wash, and be clean." It is so simple that all can do it,--so simple that the glory of the result must all be given to God. There is a fountain open for sin and uncleanness, and the most leprous soul that will wash in that fountain will be cleansed. The word of the Lord is, "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be read like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isaiah 1:18)
To wash in that fountain is to believe the word of the Lord. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)
Who can be simple enough to believe God? Naaman believed and washed in Jordan, and was cleansed. So will all be cleansed who are willing to give up their own way, and take God's way instead.--Present Truth, January 18, 1894--2 Kings 5:8-13
E.J. Waggoner