Naaman Washes Seven Times

In 2 Kings 5, Naaman almost missed his miracle because God's instructions seemed too simple. He expected something dramatic, but God asked him to take seven ordinary steps of obedience. Nothing appeared to change after the first dip... or the second... or even the sixth. But on the seventh, everything changed.

The same is often true in our lives.

God frequently transforms us through small, daily acts of faithfulness rather than dramatic moments. Every prayer, every page of Scripture, every act of forgiveness, every step of obedience is shaping who we are becoming—even when we can't yet see the results.

If you've been tempted to quit, this message is for you.

Don't stop on the sixth dip.

Keep trusting.
Keep praying.
Keep obeying.

Your breakthrough may be closer than you think.

If this message encourages you, I'd love for you to subscribe and share it with someone who needs hope today. Together, let's renew our lives one faithful step at a time.

Scripture: 2 Kings 5

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Naaman Washes Seven Times. Hi, my name is Max Marcou, and this is Life with Max. Thank you for joining me. In this episode, we're going to look at a story in the Old Testament out of 2nd Kings chapter 5. And we're going to focus on this character, Naaman, who is the commander of an army, but he has leprosy. Let's read the story. Chapter 5 of 2 Kings. The king of Aram had great admiration for Naaman, the commander of his army, because through him the Lord had given Aram great victories. But though Naaman was a mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy. And leprosy at this time in history, there is no cure for it. It ate you alive. So even though he was successful, he's strong, he's the commander of a successful army. Unfortunately, he has a life-threatening disease called leprosy. At this time, Aramen raiders had invaded the land of Israel, and among their captives was a young girl who had been given to Naaman's wife as a maid. One day the girl said to her boss, the woman, Naaman's wife, I wish my master, meaning I wish Naaman, would go see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal him of leprosy. And he's talking, she, this girl, is talking about the prophet Elisha. So this story is fascinating because this girl is taken away from her land, and I think most people would be bitter, rebellious, would not care about their boss because their boss's people took her away from what she grew up with. But this girl, she's a special little girl. She's she's saying, you know what? I'm gonna have a good attitude here. I see that the woman I work for, her husband, is suffering of leprosy, and I wish he would go get healed. I think her faith was quite strong, and that's something to admire. There's many characters in this story. Maybe you'll connect with one of them. I hope you do. Verse 4. So Naaman told the king what the young girl from Israel had said. Verse 5, Go and visit the prophet, the king of Aram told him. I will send a letter of introduction for you to take to the king of Israel. So Naaman started out carrying as gifts 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and ten sets of clothing. The letter to the king of Israel said, With this letter I present my servant Naaman, I want you to heal him from leprosy. So the king is giving his approval to send this commander of the army to another land, and he's giving him all of these riches as gifts to give to the other king to say, Will you please take care of this guy? So that's quite beautiful. But this is a time not unlike today, really, where people don't trust people on average. So in verse 7, when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes in dismay and said, Am I God that I can give life and take it away? Why is this man asking me to heal someone with leprosy? I can see that he's just trying to pick a fight with me. So he doesn't trust him. But the prophet hears about this, the prophet Elisha in verse 8. But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes in dismay, he sent this message to him. Send Naaman to me, and I uh rather, and he will learn that there is a true prophet here in Israel. So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and waited at the door of Elisha's house. This is this is kind of interesting to me because you're a commander of an army. Wherever you go, people either fear you or have a ton of respect for you. And he goes to this prophet's house, and in verse 10 it says, But Elisha sent a messenger out to him with this message. Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River, then your skin will be restored and you will be healed of your leprosy. He doesn't even leave his home to go outside to greet this guy. And how do you think this commander of the army felt? He was not feeling so good. He was insulted. It says in verse 11, but Naaman became angry and stalked away. I just imagine him storming off. I thought he would certainly come out and meet me, he said. I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me. Aren't the rivers in Damascus and Abanah and the far, far better than the rivers of Israel? Why shouldn't I wash in them and be healed? So Naaman turned and went away in rage. He was upset. And you know what? I get it. He he he wants to be healed of something that is known to not be something that you can get really healed from. The odds are against him, and he's frustrated. Maybe you could relate to that story where you just feel like this isn't fair. I teach my kids all the time: life is not fair. It isn't fair, but we can choose to have a good attitude and uh and believe in God that He will help us navigate through things and we'll get through it. Verse 13. But his officers tried to reason with him and said, Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn't you have done it? In other words, they're they're saying, Damon, we came all this way. Like, don't give up. We care about you. If the prophet said you have to do this very difficult thing to be healed, you would have said, Okay, I'll do it. But he's they're they're basically saying, he's asking you to do something very simple, just have to dip seven times in the Jordan River. So it goes on to say, so you should certainly obey him when he says, simply go and wash and be cured. So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times. So sometimes we're we're not gonna be Naaman. Sometimes we're gonna be the girl who is put in a bad situation as a slave, as a maid in a house in a foreign land, but we're gonna choose to have a godly attitude and still care about human beings. And other times we're gonna be on the team or part of the family or the organization where we're not the one who needs the breakthrough, but we're gonna try to be the voice of reason for the person that's enraged, like Naaman here, and say, you know what, let's just give it a try. So he goes down. So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times as the man of God instructed him. Now, what if he dipped himself one time, came up out of the water? I think he'd be looking and being like, Is it healed? I don't feel anything. There could have been an inner battle there. If you put yourself at this at the river's edge and watch him dip, he probably came up out of the water the first time and said, It didn't work. And then he said, Well, he said seven times. He goes back under, comes up, nothing. Three times, four times. By the sixth time, this is oftentimes, I think, where us in modern life we we get hung up. We believe that we're supposed to push through the difficult things, we believe that we're supposed to have faith and not give up, but we do because we didn't see the miracle, we didn't see the breakthrough, we didn't see the change. But the good news is he dipped the seventh time as the man of God instructed him. Does it make sense? I mean, it doesn't make sense in the natural. That's why I love these stories, because it helps us to have faith in the supernatural God. And his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child, and he was healed. It's incredible, it's just incredible. Verse 15 then Naaman and his entire party went back to find the man of God. They stood before him, and Naaman said, Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. Meaning, like, I now I know that the one true God is your God. All right. So that is the story of Naaman getting healed of leprosy. But let's bring it home here. I got a few points to share with you. Number one, God's instructions are often simpler than we expect. Sometimes it it's it's just about showing up and doing the right thing. It's simple. And oftentimes, I know I can overcomplicate things. Maybe you can relate to that. Simple instructions, follow them and expect that eventually there's going to be a breakthrough. Luke chapter 16, verse 10. If you are faithful in the little things, you'll be faithful in the large ones. But if you're dishonest with the little things, you won't you if you are dishonest in little things, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities. What Jesus is saying here is be faithful in these little things, these little things, these little acts of obedience. Just be faithful with them. Number two, pride often keeps us from simple obedience. Pride is a thing that has been around forever. And I don't think I hear many people talk about, but we have to check ourselves. Is our pride getting in the way of God's best for our future, for our life? Pride often keeps us from simple obedience. It's a beautiful thing to be obedient to God, even when it doesn't make sense. Um Proverbs chapter 16. First pride, then the crash. The bigger the ego, the harder the fall. We got to keep our pride, our ego, we got to keep that in check. In other words, we can't allow that to ruin us. Um and so I like that translation of the message uh version of the Bible, Proverbs 16, 18. I'll read it one more time. First pride, then the crash. The bigger the ego, the harder the fall. I've seen a lot of good people crash and fall because they let their pride, they became very so-called holy, holier than thou, in a sense, thinking that they were better than everybody else when they were still a child of God, just like you and I, and and they crashed and burned. And so we want to be very, very careful. Um, let's keep going. Number three, don't quit before the seventh dip. Again, sometimes you just gotta stick with it, stick with doing the simple, small things. Maybe they're not simple, but you stick with the plan over and over and you don't give up. Never give up. Never give up on yourself and never give up on someone else. Keep praying for them, keep praying for yourself, keep believing that we're going to find a way forward and don't give up. Number four, repeated obedience changes us before it changes our circumstances. Repeated obedience changes us before it changes our circumstances. So, Naaman, he dipped six times, and circumstances were still the same. He still had this life-threatening disease, but he kept with it, wrote repeated obedience. He probably felt like a fool at some point, being like, Why am I doing this? This river isn't even clean. In man's eyes, it's a dirty river, it's a murky river. Didn't matter. This was what he was supposed to do, and he came up out of it healed. Galatians chapter 6, verse 9. I read this over myself a lot, and I'll explain that in just a sec. Let's read it once and then I'll explain it. Galatians 6, 9. Let's not get tired of doing what is good at just the right time. We will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. Now, what I take from this, and I and the way I apply it to my life is I start to speak it over myself. And this is how I do it. I say, I will not get tired. It says, let's not get tired of doing what is good. I say, God, I'm not gonna get tired of doing what is good. I'm going to keep doing what is good. When times are hard, when things are looking tough and rough, I'm still going to have the attitude that you are imparting into me through your word. That's why I love studying the Bible, and I encourage you to study the Bible for yourself. You take this as truth so that the lies cannot take root. Bitterness cannot take root. Truth takes root, and you come out better, not bitter. So I am not going to get tired of doing what is good. And I know and I trust you, God, that in your time, at just the right time, there will be a harvest of blessing. Because I'm not going to give up. That's how you can take scripture and just use it to help you to hold on to that hope, that truth for the future. So, my question for you is where do you see yourself in this story? I do want to point out that um in this story, Naaman's wife. I've never heard anyone talk about her. I'm sure somebody has, but it says, let's go. Let's go. Verse 2, chapter 5, again, we're in 2 Kings. Um There's a young girl who had been given a Naaman's wife as a maid. One day the girl said to her, I wish my master would go and see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal him of leprosy. And so the wife was there, and imagine what she was dealing with. Her husband is a powerful person, and he's got this disease. I imagine many of you can relate to that on some level. When someone you know has something that just seems impossible. This little, I don't know. I just I don't know how old the girl is, it doesn't say. It just says a young girl. Sometimes the young people have faith like a child, and uh it's just so pure. I love hearing young people, I love hearing kids and teenagers pray. They have they haven't been beat up or hurt by the world enough to not have like beautiful, just amazing faith. Jesus talks about this. He said, You really want to experience what the kingdom of life, kingdom of God is here on in this lifetime, in this world, have the faith of a child. And so I give the wife and this young girl a lot of credit. They had to convince him, this guy, that you know what, go talk to the king tomorrow. See if you can get a letter to go and see this prophet. Pretty cool stuff. Well, anyways, whatever you got out of this, I hope that is useful, it's inspiring, and it doesn't stop there. These stories are meant to strengthen our faith that when we're going through it and we're starting to get a little weary or worn down or frustrated, that we remind ourselves of what God has done in the past. And if he did it for Naaman, he can do it for you. All right, let's pray. Father, I thank you, Lord, that you are patient with us. Thank you that you're patient with me. I thank you, Lord, that you forgive us in times when we wanted instant results, but instead you wanted to teach us through the challenges that there's beautiful faith being developed by just being obedient with the small things, those small instructions, those small things we know that you're calling us to do. Help us to humble our hearts so that we're willing to obey, even when the instructions seem too simple for the big outcome to be to be real. Help us not to quit on the sixth dip, Lord. Help us, Lord, to not give up and help us to not try to reason our way out of what your best plan is, Lord. I thank you, Lord, for all the people in this story. I thank you, Lord, that the people that worked with them said, Hey, I know you're upset, Naaman, but let's just give it a try. Lord, I thank you for that attitude of let's have a little faith here. Shape our character through small daily decisions. And I pray, Lord, that whoever's listening to this or watching this, that something, something will stick, something will spark hope and faith in them, and that they will connect with you, God, in a very personal way and walk with you forward with your guidance, with your strength, and with your peace. In Jesus' name. Bless them, I pray. Amen. Well, thank you so much, everybody. I love these stories. I hope you do too. And again, I hope you study the Bible for yourself. I'm just here to try to help and and get things moving in what I think is the right direction, the direction that's helped me. It's worked for me. So uh I yeah, I'll I'll leave it at that. My name is Max Markuo. You can go to elevationchapel.org. If you're ever in the Boston area, I pastor a little church in Newton, Massachusetts. If you're around, come on by on a Sunday uh when we have church, and I'd love to meet you. But otherwise, hope to uh hope to connect with you at some point, somehow. And um, I hope you enjoy these shows. Thank you so much.