Have it Your Way

Leavell Woods

2 Kings 5:1–14 NRSV

Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. And the king of Aram said, “Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.” He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.” But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.” But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage. But his servants approached and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.

This is the Word of God for the People of God

Thanks be to God.

.....Let us pray...........

You know, years ago Burger King had a famous slogan: “Have it your way.” The whole idea was that you didn’t have to settle for how the restaurant normally did things—you could customize your burger exactly how you wanted it.

No pickles? Done.

Extra mayo? You got it.

Your way.

That kind of thinking—your way—is everywhere in our culture.

We’re taught to:

take control,

trust our instincts,

and push back when something doesn’t make sense to us.

It’s about autonomy, independence, choice.

But here’s the problem: that mindset doesn’t always work when it comes to following God.

In 2 Kings 5, we meet a man named Naaman.

Powerful.

Respected.

In control.

But when he finds himself with a condition he can’t fix—leprosy—he’s forced to do something that goes against everything he knows: submit.

And not just submit—he has to obey a word from a prophet of a God he doesn’t worship, in a way that offends his pride and makes no sense to his logic.

He wanted healing his way. But God required obedience His way.

And here’s the hard truth: God’s way often doesn’t look like our way. It might not fit our plans, our traditions, or our pride. But it is always the only way that leads to true healing and transformation.

In his book entitled: Experiencing God, Henry Blackaby writes,

“You can’t stay where you are and go with God. His way always requires movement, surrender, and trust.”

And that my friends is what makes doing things God’s way instead of our own so difficult.

It requires movement, surrender, and trust.

It requires us to move towards what makes us uncomfortable.

It requires us to surrender much of ourselves.

And even when things seem illogical, it requires trust.

That’s a lot right??

It is a lot and it’s a lot because those three things that Blackaby names in his book are the three hardest things for people to do.

If we look at our text on this morning, we see Naaman having difficulty doing any of these things named by Blackaby in this text.

Here we have a man who has just experienced a great military victory by defeating the Israelites.

He has the ear of the king of Aram and he seems to be a respected man.

This is a prestigious and well-respected man who seems to have everything that a man could want in life during this time.

But there’s one problem...

He has a skin condition and it is probably painful and causes great discomfort.

His skin condition also could be something that causes him a great deal of embarrassment.

His life would be almost perfect if he could just have this condition cured.

He receives a life-changing opportunity through his slave girl who tells him about a prophet in Samaria who can heal him.

Naaman makes arrangements to see this prophet named Elisha.

Naaman gets to Samaria only to find that he will not have an audience with this prophet because the prophet sends his servant to give Naaman instructions.

Elisha’s servant then gives Naaman some rather odd instructions.

He tells him to go to a river but not just any old river.

He tells him to go to the Jordan River and wash himself seven times and then he will be healed.

Now at this point Naaman is heated. He is angry! He feels like he’s wasted time, energy, and he feels disrespected.

If I could place myself in Nathan’s shoes, I would be saying

“What kind of game is this prophet playing???”

“He had me to come all the way out here and not only does he give me these dumb instructions but he doesn’t even have the decency to come out here and greet me.

Who does this prophet think he is???”

“I’m a commander in the King’s army”

“I just slaughtered this prophet’s people on the battlefield and he refuses to come out and give me the homage and respect that I deserve.”

“Does this prophet not know who I am?”

“Then not only did he not have the decency to come out and greet me but he tells me to take a bath in the Jordan of all places.”

“I may as well go take a bath in sewage water.”

“All of these majestic waters around me and he tells me to bathe in that filthy Jordan?”

“Come on y’all, lets go home. I’m done with this. I don’t want to be in this place any longer than I have to.”

On the surface Naaman wasn’t wrong.

I think if we place ourselves in Naaman’s shoes we would find that our response would likely be like that of Naaman.

We would probably feel disrespected.

Think about if you go to the doctor’s office expecting to see the doctor and you never see them.

You hadn’t talked to the doc at all and someone else brings you your diagnosis and their not a physician.

I think that I would be a little irritated.

Well essentially, this is how Naaman feels.

Then on top of that, he is instructed to bathe in the Jordan of all things.

Now let me say I have never been to Israel to witness the Jordan but I talked to two friends who have and they both said the Jordan is muddy and is more akin to a stream or creek.

It is not what we would think of a river as.

The Jordan River in that day and time was not one of those bodies of water that was highly thought of.

And honestly Naaman felt it disrespectful to suggest that he bathe in this muddy less than majestic body of water.

But someone talks some sense into Naaman and tells him to just give it a try.

Afterall, the worse that could happen is that he comes out the water the same way he did before and really you didn’t lose anything at that point.

Naaman does exactly as Elisha tells him and something amazing happens.

His skin condition is completely healed.

Naaman is set free from the physical bondage that was caused by his skin disorder.

And Naaman’s life and those who were with Naaman lives were changed.

You see when we do things God’s way instead of our own way, we receive exactly what Naaman received in this text...a life changing blessing.

And I think that’s the challenge for us on this first Sunday in July.

That is, how do I do things God’s way even when God’s way seems illogical???

My sisters and brothers, let me let you in on a little secret, we don’t serve a God who operates within logic; at least what we call logical.

Sometimes the puzzle pieces seem to only fit and make sense to God.

But here’s the thing, we have to get to the point in this life of discipleship where we must become fine with that.

Notice I didn’t say that we have to become comfortable with it.

I said we have to become fine with it.

Following Jesus is all about discomfort.

It’s all about going places we don’t want to go.

Interacting with people we really don’t feel comfortable interacting with.

It’s about wading in the muddy, murky, nasty Jordan when there’s better water elsewhere.

It’s about leaving your ego and the things you find your identity in at the door.

Following Jesus is about doing things God’s way.

We have several examples in scripture of people who thought they knew better than God and it caused a significant delay in getting to God’s intended destination for them.

This is no more evident than when the Israelites were journeying from Egypt to the Promised Land.

The Israelites got to the Promised Land 40 years later than God intended because they kept insisting on doing things their own way.

They kept consulting people who lacked wisdom.

They turned from God despite all that they had seen God do simply because they didn’t have this visual picture of God. As a result, they created a graven image and worshipped a false god. This false god could not do what God did for them.

Because of their decisions they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.

Two generations never experienced the joy of a permanent residence or a place to call their own because they sought to do things their way.

I wonder what how much more difficult Naaman’s life would’ve been had he not set his pride aside and trust God.

And because Naaman chose to do things God’s way even when he was uncomfortable with it, he and others entered into relationship with God.

Naaman came to Israel as an idol worshipper and left their a worshipper and follower of Yahweh.

I guarantee you that Naaman’s life was never the same again after he came up out of that muddy, murky, nasty water of the Jordan.

And I guarantee you that your life will not be the same when you commit to doing things God’s way instead of you own.

May God give us the grace to embrace the discomfort that comes with doing things God’s way. May he give us the grace to surrender all of ourselves fully to him. In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Amen.