Naaman turned away in a rage. “Ah,” he said, “here am I, a great conqueror, a successful general on the battlefield, holding the very highest rank in the army, and yet this prophet does not even come out to meet me; he simply sends a message. Why, I thought he would 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.”
I THOUGHT.
There it is; I never knew a man yet who, when talked to about his sins, didn’t always say, “Yes, but I thought so and so.” “Mr. Moody,” they say, “I will tell you what I think; I will tell you my opinion.” In the fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah it says, “God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, nor His ways our ways.” And so it was with Naaman. In the first place he thought a good big doctor’s fee would do it all, and settle everything up. And besides that there was another thing he thought; he thought going to the king with his letters of introduction would do it. Yes, those were Naaman’s first thoughts.
I thought. Exactly so. He turned away in rage and disappointment. He thought the prophet would have come out to him very humble and very subservient, and bid him do some great things. Instead of that Elisha, who was very likely busy writing, did not even come to the door or the window; he merely sent out the message, “Tell him to dip seven times in the Jordan.” And away went Naaman, saying, I thought, I thought, I thought. I have heard that tale so often that I am tired of it. I will tell you just what I think about it, and what I advise you to do—“Give it up,” and take God’s words, God’s thoughts, God’s ways. I never yet knew a man converted just in the time and manner he expected to be. Now there is a class of people in our country who have been looked down upon there, just as they have been in yours; I mean the Methodists. And I have heard people say, “Well, if ever I am converted, it won’t be in a Methodist church; you won’t catch me there.” Now, I never knew a man say that but, at last, if converted at all, it was in a Methodist church.
A man to be converted has to give up his will, his ways, and his thoughts. And I have noticed this, that when a man says, “Well, if ever I am converted, it will be in this way or that,” God leads him in quite a contrary direction. And so Naaman, after his anger had abated and cooled down a little, took a second thought, which proved the best, although his pride had been so dreadfully humbled.
THE SIMPLE REMEDY.
Whilst Naaman was thus wavering in his mind, and thinking on what was best to be done, one of his servants drew near and made a very sensible remark: “My lord, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?” Yes, and there is a great deal of truth in that.
Why, if Elisha had said to him, “Go back to Syria on your hands and knees,” he would most likely have done it. If he had said, “Go back all the way on one foot,” he would have tried to do it. Or if he had said, “Give ten thousand pieces of gold for the medicine I shall offer thee, and thou shalt be cleansed,” no doubt he would have done it. But to tell him merely to dip in the river Jordan seven times, why, it seemed absurd on the face of it. Well, this servant suggested to him that he had better go down to the Jordan and try the remedy, as it was a very simple one.
I can fancy Naaman, still reluctant to believe in it, saying, “Why, if there is such cleansing power in the waters of Jordan, would not every leper in Israel go down and dip in them, and be healed?” “Well, but you know,” urges the servant, “now that you have come a hundred and fifty miles, don’t you think you had better do what he tells you; for after all you can but try it; and he sends word distinctly, my lord, that your flesh shall come again as that of a little child.” And so Naaman accepts this word in season. His anger is cooling down; he has got over the first flush of his indignation, and he says, “Well, I think I might as well try it.” That was the starting-point of his faith, although still he thought it a foolish thing, and could not bring himself to believe that the result would be what the prophet had said.
How many men have told me right to my face they did not believe a man could be saved by simply obeying God. Faith, they thought, was not enough, they must do something. They will have it that there must be a little asking, and reasoning, and striving, and wrestling with God, before they can get the blessing.