"Truly Blessed"
- Dr. Todd R. Wright
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Naaman was told to wash in the Jordan seven times. I’ll bet he was tempted to stop after three or four. Continuing required faith.
2 Kings 5: 1-14
July 6, 2025
Dr. Todd Wright
When we left him last week, Elisha had just responded to God’s call. He abandoned everything to follow Elijah, to learn from him, to grow in faith, and develop his prophetic gifts.
Since then, Elisha has taken up his mentor’s mantle and begun to perform miracles himself!
Like purifying a whole city’s water, causing a widow’s jar of oil to overflow abundantly, raising a boy from the dead, and feeding one hundred men with just twenty loaves.
But healing Naaman, an enemy General, was a true test.
The church treasures this story, but it cannot explain it. We retell it in hope, aware of our own desperate need. We repeat it wistfully, sometimes bitterly, wondering when God will heal us. But we do not doubt the truth of this story, because we trust the power and love of God.
I believe this healing reveals much about the nature of our God.
First, it gives us insight into God’s means of healing.
We wish God’s healing would come by extraordinary means. We wish God would say the word and make it happen magically.
God spoke a word at creation – “Let there be light!” and it was so.
Once Joshua asked God to make the sun stand still, and it was so.
In Mark’s gospel, Jesus speaks to a demon – “Be silent and come out!” and it was so.[2]
That is what Naaman wished. That is what he expected: a word, magic, something extraordinary. Instead, God used ordinary means. Washing seven times in the Jordan is about as magical as washing your hands with soap and water – it washes off blood, mud, and germs, but it does not heal. And yet ... let me tell you a story.
Nora [not her real name] broke her ankle. She tells of surgery, screws, and metal plates. She had a skilled orthopedist. But what she really remembers is the cast – hot, heavy, unwieldy, it ran the length of her leg. She was pushed in a wheelchair, used crutches, and hopped through the blistering days of summer. Nora counted the days until the cast would be removed. She imagined how light her leg would feel; she imagined how nice it would be to bathe and sleep without the cast; best of all, she imagined walking out of the doctor’s office free of the cast. The day of her appointment, she found out that she was not truly healed … yet. That would require weeks of physical therapy – repetitive, unglamorous, sometimes painful exercises. It meant trusting even when the treatment seemed to be having no effect.
Naaman was told to wash in the Jordan seven times. I’ll bet he was tempted to stop after three or four. Continuing required faith.
We wish God would speak a word and heal us. God can work this way, but when God uses ordinary means, we are part of the healing process, we are transformed body and soul, and ordinary things – even muddy water and exercise bikes – can become holy. This is part of true healing.
This Bible story also provides information about God’s timing.
We wish God would act right away, but usually, God’s timing requires patience.
Abraham was promised a son, but he was an old man before he changed Isaac’s diaper.
Moses was told to guide God’s people to the Promised Land, and it took 40 years.
Jesus told his disciples he would return soon, and we have been waiting ever since.
We wish God would move swiftly to heal our cancer, our broken relationships, a loved one’s Alzheimer’s, or a child’s autism. There is ample proof that sometimes God works this way. But when God responds to our prayers slowly, there may be unexpected blessings: maybe we find ourselves on a first name basis with the Lord; or we find ourselves supported by our friends, or we find ourselves bathed in prayers and notes and get-well cards. This is part of true healing, too.
Finally, this scripture shows us God’s will regarding healing.
It did not matter that Naaman was a foreigner, an enemy. God chose to heal him.
God wills to make everyone whole and healthy and clean!
Isn’t that what every parent wants for their children?
Isn’t that what every doctor wants for their patient?
Isn’t that what every friend wants for those they care about who are suffering?
So God healed Naaman. He’d been waiting a long time, but he got an answer to his prayers.
If you’ve prayed just as desperately, just as faithfully, his healing might feel like a slap in the face. Why is God healing him – an unbeliever, an enemy, a man with access and wealth – and not us?
We know that God is powerful. It is not for lack of strength that God does not heal.
We know that God loves us. It is not for lack of compassion that God holds back. And yet …
And yet we also know that …
Sometimes the righteous suffer and bad things happen to good people;
“God’s ways are not our ways” and
“All things work together for good for those who love the Lord …”[3] And yet …
The “how” and “why” of healing are mysteries, but this we cling to: God loves us … even when the sores on our skin, the disease ravaging our organs, or the heartbreaks of life, remain. God loves us … even when our prayers do not get the answers we seek.
The faith that moved Naaman to seek Elisha’s God, and the hope that gets us through the day,
rest on the belief that we are held in the hollow of God’s hand. May that be enough. Amen.
[1] “Naaman Bathing” - woodcut from The Cologne Bible, 1478-80
[2] See Genesis 1:3, Joshua 10:12-14, and Mark 1:25
[3] See Isaiah 55:8 and Romans 8:28