2 Kings 5:1-17 (ESV)
A few years ago, God told me to pray for something that made no sense. He placed on my heart the urgent need to pray for an impossible ministry position. He was very specific about what I was to pray for. The ministry position needed to be full time, eight to five a.m, with weekends and holidays off. Anyone who has been on a church staff knows how impossible that scenario is.
In 2 Kings 5:1-17 we find another person being told by the LORD (through a prophet) to carry out a scenario that makes absolutely no sense. This the story about Naaman who was the “…commander of the army of the king of Syria…” (5:1) Although Naaman is a man of valor, he has leprosy which during the Old Testament times had no cure. The king of Syria’s wife had a “…little girl from the land of Israel…” (5:3) who worked for her. The little girl tells the king’s wife there is a prophet (Elisha) in Israel who can heal Naaman. The king sends Naaman to Elisha, but when Naaman arrives at Elisha’s house, Elisha doesn’t even greet him, instead, he sends a messenger to tell Naaman to “…Go and wash in the Jordan seven times…” and he would be healed. (5:10). Naaman is upset, here he is a man of power and position, recognized in Syria as a trusted servant of the king, and this Hebrew prophet doesn’t even have enough respect to come out to him and pray over him! Additionally, the prophet wants him to go to the muddy Jordan and wash seven times. He feels ignored by Elisha, and the fact that his leprosy has caused him to have terrible sores all over his body, makes washing seven times in a muddy river seem senseless. He looks at the impossible scenario and decides to return to Syria.
I looked at the impossible scenario God placed on my heart and began praying about it. A year and a half later, when the opportunity to enter into a different branch of ministry came along, I acted just like Naaman. My past was just as horrible as the sores that covered Naaman’s body. The opportunity seemed senseless, why would anyone want me to fill a ministry position? I looked at the impossible and decided to turn away from it.
Fortunately for Naaman God directed his (Naaman’s) servants to speak with him. They convinced him to do as the prophet had directed. When Naaman followed the LORD’s will through the spoken words of the prophet, he was healed. Fortunately for me, God spoke through my wife who demanded that I apply for the ministry position which had opened (demanding that I do something is very much out of the normal for my wife). I applied and was hired. I spent the next twelve and a half years in a ministry which required me to work from eight to five a.m. each weekday, gave me weekends off, and also provided thirteen paid holidays a year including Christmas, and Easter. God placed an impossible scenario on my heart and then showed that with Him all things are possible.
When God places the impossible on our hearts, all He asks is that we follow him. Washing in the muddy Jordan with open sores all over his body, made no sense to Naaman, being in a ministry which gave me nights, weekends, and holidays off made no sense to me, but in both situations, God showed that with Him all things are possible. Isaiah 43:18-19 reads “Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert.” (NASB) God did the impossible with Naaman and with me, we only needed to follow. Is He calling you to the impossible? Let Him make a roadway in the wilderness and provide water in the desert, all you have to do is follow where He shows you to go.