The Story of Naaman Shows That When We Come to God, We Should Also Trust God

But Naaman was furious 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 wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.”

2 Kings, Chapter 5, Verse 11 NASB

The story of Naaman is one that is interesting in that it has been played out in a variety of circumstances with almost every believer at one time or another.

Although Naaman’s particular affliction was leprosy, as was the case with the captain our problems in and of themselves are not the issue.  It is instead in the attitude we possess when we acknowledge that God is omnipotent, seek His help and in the process expect Him to answer our prayers according to our expectations rather than yield to His divine wisdom.

I can recall during a series of crisis points in my own life where I sought God in earnest, acknowledging Jesus as my Lord and Savior and reading the Word daily.  With a firm even fervent commitment, I prayed for a resolution to the trials I was experiencing, and then “suggested” the manner in which said prayers should be answered.

In other words, and like Naaman, I asked for God’s help and then proceeded to tell the Creator of all things how He should go about His business.

Although at the time I did not fully appreciate it, when I first read the story of Naaman, I began to realize that often times it is our own expectations that become the major obstacles to receiving God’s intended blessings.

It is not until we truly and actually surrender our will to Him, and yield to His solution for our challenges that true breakthroughs occur and our eyes are opened to the answers that perhaps have been there all along.

In my life, this meant surrendering the myopic vision associated with my own desires, and surrendering to the greater possibilities and promise of God’s infinite wisdom.

Like Naaman, whose submission to the simplicity of God’s direction and his subsequent obedience led to his cleansing of leprosy, I found the previously elusive answer to my prayers in an area that I would have never imagined for myself . . . writing.

By simply opening myself up to God’s greater possibilities rather than being stubbornly confined to my own earthbound expectations, I have and continue to experience a level of joy and peace that far surpasses the happiness I thought I had possessed when I was at the pinnacle of worldly success.

The question we must all ask ourselves is simply this, “are my expectations of how God should answer my prayers getting in the way of God’s intended blessings?”