Many are sick today because they do not know how to receive their healing. They rely on their preconceived ideas on how they can get well. They get these ideas from their experiences, from what they have read in books, or from what others have told them. As a result, they have built their own expectations. Whenever they visit a doctor, they expect to receive a drug prescription—and to go home without it is taboo. Others expect doctors to tell them that they are sick, when they are really not. Any word from their doctors that is contrary to their expectation is rejected and they continue to search for doctors that will agree with them. This preconception in the manner that healing is received is not new. The Bible gives us an incident when Namaan, the commander of Syrian army who was sick of leprosy, refused to obey the prescription he got, since it was contrary to what he expected. While he acceded to the advice to see the prophet Elisha for his healing, he could not accept the prophet’s prescription. Through a servant, the prophet Elisha had said, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed” (2 King 5:10).
Naaman’s refusal to accept Elisha’s prescription was born out a preconceived idea on how a prophet ministers healing—that the prophet would lay his hand on him and then offer up his prayer to God. This was evident when he responded, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” (2 Kings 5:11-12). Not only was he critical of Elisha for not treating or meeting him personally, but of the cure itself. He thought that cleaner water would ensure healing. As a result, he despised the water of the Jordan River, which was a lot dirtier that the rivers of Damascus.
A change of heart and mindset will surely help to bring healing to someone who is desperate for physical restoration. After receiving counsel from one of his servants, Naaman changed his mind and submitted fully to Elisha’s prescription and the result was amazing. We are told that “he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy” (2 King 5:14). Surely, if we want to be healed by faith, we must “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). God has his own way of healing and it defies man’s understanding, for he is “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Eph. 3:20).
With the miracle that transpired, Naaman was completely transformed from his unbelief and exclaimed, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel” (2 King 5:15). His statement was accurate in that only the God of Israel heals. In assuring Israel of his loving kindness and care, God said to them, “I am the Lord who heals you” (Exodus 15:26). The Bible is loaded with stories and accounts of how God healed those who had faith in Him. The basis of all of these healings is faith, not knowledge or any preconceived ideas on how healing could be attained. We only need to believe that God is able, in the same manner that Abraham believed. We are told in the Scriptures that Abraham believed in God and it was credited to him as righteousness. The apostle Paul appropriately described Abraham’s faith when he said, “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations…without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief…being fully persuaded that God had the power to do what he had promised” (Rom. 4:18-21).
While we do not have the Jordan River to dip ourselves and be cleansed, the apostle Paul revealed a better way to be cleansed by saying, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word” (Eph. 5:25-26). Indeed, the Word is able not only to cleanse us spiritually, but also physically. Many sicknesses are caused by sin and being cleansed through the Word will bring healing. Moreover, by trusting in God, we allow the immune system that God placed in our body to operate and bring healing. Let us not submit to the lie of the devil that we must have a “pain-free” body. Pains are signals for us to pray and to trust in God. Also, pains remind us that we have fallen short of the glory of God and our prayers and repentance will bring healing. Surely, the God of Israel is our healer and he will never fail. Hallelujah!
