When we read our Bibles and study the way God wants us to conduct ourselves in every area of our lives, it often doesn’t make sense. To make matters worse, at times God tells us what he wants us to do but He doesn’t bother to explain why. God says, I want you to forgive that person. And you respond, but why? I haven’t done anything to them. God tells you, I want you to give a percentage of your income and you respond, give? I don’t have enough to pay my own bills. When we look at our circumstances and evaluate what God is asking us to do it just doesn’t make sense.

When God asks us to do something that doesn’t make sense He is not seeking our cooperation. God is in search of something of greater importance to Him. He is seeking our obedience. The reason He wants our obedience and not our cooperation is because he has something else in mind, something that we will discover in today’s Bible reading.

II Kings 5:1-15

Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. 2Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” 4Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. 5“By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. 6The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.” 7As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!” 8When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house.

Here’s where this story gets interesting, because God through the prophet Elisha is about to ask Naaman to do something that made absolutely no sense to him. Now let’s continue with today’s Bible reading.

10Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.” 11But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage.
13Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” 14So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. 15Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel”.

Don’t run by verse 15 too quickly, did you get it? Naaman did not say, “Now I know there is no other place in the world to be healed of leprosy except the the Jordan River.” No, he said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel”. Naaman went out in search of healing but through his obedience he discovered something greater than healing, he discovered the healer, he discovered God.

It’s simple, When God asks us to do something His request is not to control us or to make us good people. His request is seeking our obedience because when our trust intersects with His faithfulness in that moment we discover something far greater than a miracle. In that moment we discover the miracle worker himself. In that moment we discover God.

Heavenly Father help me so that every time you speak to me and ask me to do something, I would trust and obey you even if it doesn’t make sense because every time I do that I discover who you are and the great faithfulness you have for me.