Read Message

bigmike

Following Instructions
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. 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. 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.
2 Kings 5:10-12
Naaman went to Israel to be healed of his leprosy—not because he believed in the God of Israel, but because the captive Jewish servant girl in his home said that Elisha could cure him. When Naaman arrived at Elisha's home, he was outraged by the reception he received. He had traveled to a hostile foreign country seeking help. The prophet, however, did not come out to receive him but sent his servant with a message. The message itself was a directive that did not match Naaman's preconceptions, and he did not want to follow it. Only after his servants interceded and he obeyed the prophet was Naaman cleansed.
It is not enough to seek direction and guidance from God, but we must also follow it and carry out His instructions to receive the promised blessings.
When we set out to seek God's direction in matters large or small, we must be committed to following it, no matter what that entails. George Müller said, “I never remember in all my Christian course that I ever sincerely and patiently sought to know the will of God by the teaching of the Holy Ghost through the instrumentality of the Word of God but I have always been rightly directed. But, if honesty of heart and uprightness before God were lacking, or if I did not patiently wait on God for instruction, or if I preferred the counsel of my fellowmen to the declarations of the Word of God, I made great mistakes.”
The blessings of obedience only come to those who actually do what God says to do.
___

Date: