To obtain the right Christian doctrine very many Christians act like Naaman.

    There are those who believe that when they ask God for something, they are going to receive it in the most dramatic and vain form there is. It is not that way, the divine methodology is not the same as the human. Let us see the case of the Syrian Naaman, a general who was a leper, who believed that God would respond to his way, and almost did not reach that which he implored, his health.

    Many times, believers behave with God in the same way this Syrian general behaved with Elisha. The prophet gave the leper all that was necessary for him to be cured, but he almost wasn't cured, because Elisha did not follow the method the general thought he should follow.

    Many believers ask things of God and expect Him to perform in a dramatic and astounding way that we think it should be given to us. Later, when we receive the same goal that we desired, but in a way that is natural and humble, we think that God has not heard us. Yes, He heard us, the problem is that He did not want to stimulate our vanity by performing marvelous theatrics when he could perfectly well help us by means that will look natural to others.

    In the same way, very many believers ask God for the truth in religion, but when God sends a brother their way, who discuss their erroneous doctrines with them, they feel frustrated like Naaman, and think: I thought God would leave His throne in Heaven and appear before me to tell me what the true doctrine is.

 

    “9 So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. 10 And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying: Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. 11 But Naaman was wroth, 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 strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.”                                                        (II K 5:9-12)

    Finally, his servants reasoned with him that if the prophet would have asked him to do something difficult, theatrical or dramatic, he surely would have done so. Therefore, if something as simple as washing himself seven times in the Jordan River has been asked of him, why not do it? The general deposed his attitude, did the apparently stupid thing the prophet asked him to do and he was healed of his leprosy. If he had not accepted the directions of the prophet of God, he would have lost out on the blessing that was reserved for him.

    Something similar can happen to us, if when we pray, we think that the answer from God should only come to us in a way that is dramatic, astonishing or theatrical. It is important to repeat here the previous paragraph: “In the same way, many believers ask God for the truth in religion, but when God sends a brother their way, who discuss their erroneous doctrines with them, they feel frustrated like Naaman and think: I thought God would leave His throne in Heaven and appear before me to tell me what the true doctrine is.”

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