I don’t know about you, but sometimes I don’t want to do the simple things that would improve my life. For example, I want better overall health, but I often think I need a big overhaul of my workout routine and my diet, when truly I would see improvement simply from drinking more water and taking a short walk each day. Or, the dentist tells us we need to floss every day and that just seems both too easy and too hard. Have you experienced this in your own life?  Sometimes the thing that will bring change is so simple we dismiss it.

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In our verse today we read about a man named Naaman who was looking for healing, but was reluctant to do the simple thing God’s prophet Elisha had instructed him to do. Naaman was an army commander under the king of Aram, and he suffered from leprosy. A young Israelite girl who was a servant of Naaman’s wife said that he should consult a prophet of the Lord for healing. Then, the king of Aram sent a letter with Naaman to the king of Israel, requesting his healing. The pagan king wrongly believed that the king of Israel could heal his commander. The king of Israel was actually upset that he would be asked to do what only God can do and feared the foreign king was picking a fight with him. Elisha the prophet heard of the Israelite king’s reaction and requested that Naaman come to him instead. Elisha sent a messenger to tell Naaman to go wash in the Jordan River seven times. Naaman, however, resisted this idea, in part because he reasoned his own rivers were better than the Jordan: "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?" (5:12). He also had the expectation that the prophet would come out of his house and heal him.

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Isn’t this how we sometimes approach what God is asking us to do? We believe it won’t work, or we want a grand sign from God.  

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Naaman’s servants wisely advise him that he would have been willing to do something grand, why would he not willingly try something simple to be healed? He finally surrenders and washes seven times in the Jordan River, and his leprous skin is returned to that of a young boy. He receives complete healing once he submits to what God asked him to do through the prophet Elisha.  

Unlike in Naaman’s story, where after the obedient act of washing, God healed Naaman of his disease, baptism in and of itself does not heal us. But God does ask us to be baptized as an act of obedient submission to him and to demonstrate to others the healing that has taken place within us because of Christ. It can seem like a small insignificant thing, to sit in a tank of Eklutna reservoir water on the ACF church stage and be dunked beneath its surface, but it is what God asks of us in response to the forgiveness of sins in Christ. If you haven’t been baptized, would you consider taking that step of obedience at your next opportunity?

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If you have already been baptized, are there other things God is asking you to do in obedience and surrender? Even small things like making a phone call or introducing yourself to a neighbor can have a big impact for God. Sometimes I want to do something really big for God, like move to Ethiopia and be a missionary. Yet sometimes I don’t want to be faithful in the small things that seem like they won’t make that much of a difference, like praying with a child before a test or texting an encouraging word to someone.  

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Naaman had to trust that the messengers God sent were leading him toward the thing that would provide healing. We need to trust God in asking us to get baptized, that it is the next right step on our faith journey. Then, when He sends us word about another next step, we take it.  

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Heavenly Father, we thank you for these stories from the Bible that show us how you were faithful to lead people toward healing. You didn’t ask them to do things beyond what they could do, but you did ask for their obedience in simple acts. Please give us eyes to see where we need to surrender our stubbornness and pride to step into healing. In Jesus’ name, Amen.