Great Expectations

Excited to be back in 2 Kings. That's where we've been walking through our series. Matt did a great job last week in 2 Kings chapter 4 of the deadly stew, the multiplication of food, and we are ready for chapter 5 today.

2 Kings 4 · chapter mention

So turn in your Bibles if you can find one, open up your app, whatever you have to do. We have scripture journals, 2 Kings that are available for you in the back if you'd like to take notes.

And we are in chapter 5 and we're going to go about halfway through and read through verse 14. So you can follow along with me as I read for us. 2 Kings chapter 5 verse 1.

2 Kings 5:1

Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria.

He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel and she worked in the service of Naaman's wife.

She said to her mistress, would that my Lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria, he would cure him of his leprosy. So Naaman went in and told his Lord, thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel.

And the king of Syria said, go now and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. So he went, taking with him 10 talents of silver, 6,000 shekels of gold and 10 changes of clothing.

And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, when this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman, my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.

And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, am I God to kill and make alive that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?

Only consider and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me. But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king had tore his clothes, he sent to the king saying, why have you torn your clothes?

Let him come now to me that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha's house.

And Elisha sent a messenger out to him saying, go and wash in the Jordan seven times and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.

But Naaman was angry and went away saying, behold, I thought he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.

Are not Abana and Farpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.

But his servants came near him and said to him, my father, it is a great word. The prophet has spoken to you. Will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, wash and be clean?

So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan according to the word of the man of God. And his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child.

And he was clean. Let's pray once more, shall we? Lord, we celebrate your goodness to us in times of great celebration like yesterday with Mel and Christy and their wedding.

We praise you for that. And also we do it in times of grief. And we know Brittany Brown has been grieving this week for her dad. We pray for her.

And Lord, we think of those even in the hospital this morning like Bill Fox. We pray for him as well. Lord, right now, would you teach us by your word?

Would you, in the midst of this church, do the work that only you by your spirit because of your son can do for us? And so give us ears to hear your word.

Give us hearts to understand. And Lord, give us hands and feet that we'll obey. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. I don't know if you're familiar with the whole idea of a national hero.

A national hero. A champion of an entire country, so to speak. Who would that be for us in America? National hero. Well, I thought about that a little bit this week.

And I thought, you know, if you back up several decades, quite a few actually, you might hear names like General Douglas MacArthur. Or Dwight D. Eisenhower.

If you're a resident of South Bend, we have streets here named after the generals. Our old neighborhood where our building used to be is named after a lot of these heroes of the war.

Of course, more recently, we've not been fighting these big wars on that kind of scale. And so what happens is cultures like ours elevate different kinds of people and maybe view them as our heroes.

From athletes like a great Olympian like Michael Phelps. To maybe a great football player, homegrown sort of, Peyton Manning in this state. I mean, even beloved celebrities.

I was trying to think of like who are some of the most beloved celebrities. And names like Morgan Freeman are often spoken. Or Keanu Reeves is often talked about.

You've got even innovators like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk. Some people think, you know, these are our national heroes in some sense. But I want you to understand that today, our account in Kings, it takes us all the way back to the 8th century B.C.

Into this time where there's a lot of war going on. And so the national heroes are not these athletes or celebrities. They didn't have much use for that.

But they did have their national heroes. And if this can in any way help you understand how the nation of Syria viewed this man Naaman, it was like that.

He was their national treasure. Their national hero. He is the commander of the Syrian army. That's basically like a five-star general. And he was beloved by everybody.

Not just powerful. Not just very smart. They liked him. And the person who liked him the most was actually the king of Syria. He held Naaman, we read, in high favor.

Here he is champion over their enemies. Which, by the way, includes Israel to the southwest. Champion of the nation of Syria in the face of other threats like the Assyrian army, which will soon be an empire.

Naaman, Naaman, he's your man. He can't do it. No one can. And I can imagine the cheers, right? Our narrator describes him as a mighty man of valor.

What that means is that this guy has actually walked the walk, right? He's not someone who brags about things he's not done. Or a battle won where he sat back in a rear tent.

Safely, no. He was out there on the battlefield. He had won important victories and walked away from them. Like the one recorded in 1 Kings chapter 22.

1 Kings 22 · chapter mention

Very last chapter. The very battle that the Syrians fought against Israel. In which the wicked Israelite king Ahab, although warned not to go into the battle, did go in.

And he was killed. You may not realize this. I didn't until this week. But in the intertestamental period, the rabbis that wrote the Mishnah, which is some Jewish writing, they actually thought that it was Naaman's arrow that hit the king Ahab in his chariot.

Here it is in 1 Kings chapter 22, verse 34. But a certain man drew his bow at random, and I like to always put air quotes around that, at random, and struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate.

1 Kings 22:34

So rabbinic tradition is that it was Naaman who drew the bow. We really don't know for sure. Here's what we do know. Everybody loves Naaman, right?

Everybody respects and holds him in high esteem. There's only one problem. And that's that he has a very serious skin condition.

Yes, in spite of all of his valor and might and power and the favor and fame that he enjoys, end of verse 1 tells us that he was a leper. Now this is probably not modern day leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease.

It's not like he's got his fingers and toes falling off. He wouldn't be a very good soldier if he did. But it is a very serious skin disease.

Maybe a severe form of psoriasis or eczema. That's what some scholars think. Imagine scaly skin, probably lesions all over his body. I'm sure it was very uncomfortable.

I'm also sure it was quite unsightly. And while it doesn't appear to be contagious, because he's not isolated, it is a dermatological condition that is considered unclean in his day.

And most people would have viewed it as a punishment from the gods. Well, verse 2 goes on to set things up for us by telling us how the Syrians, while they're not exactly in an all-out war with Israel, there's relative, I guess, peace at the moment between the two nations.

There are these skirmishes that occur up on the northern border. There are these raids that the Syrians are making into Israel. And on one of their raids, we read, the Syrians had carried off a little girl.

Carried off a little girl from Israel and put her into domestic servitude, into slavery. And wouldn't you know, but whose household she ends up in?

Namath. So think for a minute about this poor little girl. By little, she's probably no older than 10. Maybe single digits. Forced to work and serve.

Not only that, but the circumstances that have put her here means that she's been ripped away from her family back home. There could be a good chance that her family, maybe they're even dead.

Talk about trauma. But somehow, by the providence of something, she's found a place in Naaman's household with his family, serving Naaman's wife.

And we get the sense that she's kind of developed a fondness for this family. That they're treating her well, treating her decently. And as she speaks up in verse 3, we also realize that she's well aware of who Elisha is.

Which is a pretty good indication that she's probably a faithful worshiper of God, or her family was. She knows who Elisha is. So we imagine, here she is one day, productively at work in the house, maybe folding laundry or something like that.

And she says to her mistress, If only my lord your husband could see the prophet who is in Samaria, because he could cure my master of his leprosy.

And this is where things begin to happen very fast. The wife tells her husband about the girl's words. Naaman immediately goes and talks to the king himself.

And next thing anybody knows, Naaman is saddling up with a pretty big entourage and some very expensive gifts. And he's going to make a trip to Samaria and find this healer named Elisha.

In fact, the payment, the gift you could say that he brings along with him is absolutely an enormous amount of money. And it leads us to speculate that this is more than just what he has.

This is the king opening up his royal treasury. Check this out in verse 5. Ten talents of silver. That's about 750 pounds of silver. Then there's 6,000 shekels of gold.

That's 150 pounds of gold bullion. Taken together. Not even counting the expensive sets of clothing, which were highly valuable in the ancient world.

If you convert those precious metals to today's prices, it's worth $7 million. $7 million. But, get this, if you convert it according to buying power, it's worth $700 million.

This is an incredible amount of money. One scholar refers to it as a king's ransom. And along with this massive payment, Naaman's also being sent with an official diplomatic letter.

From the king himself. King Ben-Hadad. Writing on behalf of his beloved commander. And he says in the letter, This man comes to you, king of Israel, on my orders and with my very generous payment, so that you may cure him of his leprosy.

Now, a couple of things here. For one, the letter is sent to the king of Israel. Who would be, we are pretty sure, Jehoram. Is he presuming that the king of Israel is somehow himself going to be able to heal this man?

No. But what he is presuming is that the prophet Elisha must be a really important prophet. He's got to be there in the royal court. Certainly he's a part of the royal entourage.

I mean, someone so powerful and able to heal. Surely he's on good terms with the king. And as a matter of fact, you and I know that that's not the setup at all.

That these two are not on good terms. So, try to get a picture of this as this begins to happen. As Naaman shows up. As Naaman and his entourage and all of his loot roll up in Samaria's palace driveway.

Imagine. Naaman, of course, is permitted an audience with the king. He comes in. He presents his formal letter. Makes his intentions known. And maybe now we can understand why our king, Jehoram, really freaks out.

In verse 7. Check it out. Verse 7. When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes. A sign of great distress. He tore his clothes and said, am I God to kill and make alive?

That this man sends word to me? To cure another man of his leprosy? Leprosy? Now, I think it's pretty safe to presume that he's not tearing his clothes and spouting off like this in front of Naaman.

I'm sure Naaman is out and he's privately with his officials at this point. But he goes on to complain to his court advisors. He says, you see what's happening here?

I know what's happening. This king is seeking a quarrel with me. What he means is that he's very afraid that the Syrian king, Ben-Hadad, although there seems to be some kind of a truce now, that this king is looking for trouble.

That this is just an excuse to make war. This letter is a provocation. Syria is looking to pick a fight. And he just needs a reason. And if you don't do what I ask and turn away my national hero, well...

And honestly, King Jehoram is really freaked out at this point because he is quite powerless. He does not, in fact, control this prophet. Nobody controls God's prophet.

And to him it feels like an international incident that's about to explode. I don't know what it would be like today. I was thinking about this.

Maybe it would be like if the tensions between Russia and Ukraine were to somehow cool. And we all hope and pray for that. And there's like some kind of a truce, a ceasefire.

And then, all of a sudden, Vladimir Putin decides to send in his top general, his favorite general, into Ukraine on a peaceful envoy to request a brain transplant.

You are aware that we can't do that. You are aware that we can't do that. It would be like nobody has that technology. That's not possible. And it looks like Russia's just setting up for another excuse to invade us.

That's how our king is feeling. Well, ironically enough, although it doesn't look like that he sends for Elisha, again, they're not on great terms.

The king and the prophet somehow word gets to Elisha anyway. As it turns out, Elisha is presently staying in Jerusalem. He's got a house here in Samaria.

And he no doubt has heard about the grand entrance of Naaman the Syrian coming into town. And he's also heard that the king's been freaking out and tearing his clothes over something.

And so what happens is Elisha himself takes the initiative, sends word to the king in verse 8. And he says, almost I kind of, I hear it in a slightly mocking tone.

Why are you tearing your clothes up? Send this guy to me that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel. And what he means is there is a prophet in Israel who can do what he's asking.

And I would imagine that our king wastes no time in doing just that. Gives him the GPS coordinates to Elisha's house. Verse 9. Out in front of Elisha's humble house now up rolls this big caravan.

All the horses, the chariots. Imagine the sounds of the clinking and clanging of all the precious metals in the saddlebags. Great pomp. Naaman comes impressively deploying all the diplomacy that he can.

And Elisha comes out and gives him an official greeting, doesn't he? Did you read it? He didn't. He doesn't. He doesn't even come out of the house.

Elisha doesn't come to the door. He never so much as speaks to the man directly. He never even puts eyes on him. He sends out his servant to talk to him.

I don't know everything about ancient Near Eastern customs and insults, but I'm pretty sure this is one.

And here's a simple message that he delivers to Naaman through his proxy. It's one sentence. One sentence of some instructions. He says, go and wash in the Jordan seven times and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.

Now, a couple of things here. For starters, Naaman is clearly not pleased that the prophet hasn't even done in the dignity of coming outside to greet him personally.

After all, I'm an important man. I'm a national hero. I'm Naaman the Great. Mighty man of valor. Five star general. I move in the company of kings.

I was sent by my king. I just talked to your king. The least you could do is come out and talk to me. Don't you know who I am? In verse 11, he snaps to his guys.

I thought he would surely come out to me and stand in front of me. He feels snubbed. Very disrespected. But more than that, Naaman goes on. This isn't the way.

This isn't the way that the holy men heal people. They're supposed to get right in front of a person. Face to face. Wave their hand over the place needing cure.

That's how they do it back home. Holy men always have to come out and wave their hands. That's how they wave up their magic. Like, but Elisha is no holy man of Syria, is he?

He's a true holy man. He's the true prophet of the man of God. And he doesn't wave up magic with his hand or have really any power of his own.

Which is probably why his instructions are sending Naaman a significant distance away to go wash at the Jordan. And notice the fact that he's not coming along either.

He's going to stay put in this house. And what we see is that our prophet is wanting to intentionally distance himself from this miracle. To remove himself from the act of healing.

So that this general will rightly recognize that this is the result of God's power. And not any human beings.

And then finally, the instructions themselves. I mean, there's a little bit of a rub here too. Another source of irritation for our general.

The Jordan.

And Naaman's thinking, that muddy little river. The Jordan. We got rivers back home. Way bigger, better, and cleaner. Can't I just jump into one of them?

I mean, not to mention, if this is all the reception I'm getting, I might as well start heading homeward. Head up north again. I can just jump in one of those rivers.

Why take the time to detour another 25 miles to the east? Why add another full day's march with this huge entourage? Just to go dunk myself seven times in the puny, muddy Jordan River.

But as our aggravated commander just rages at his servants in verse 12, we notice something. We notice that Naaman in his anger seems to have missed the part where Elisha said that his flesh would be restored.

It seems that all he heard was the part about becoming ceremonially clean. And quite frankly, a Syrian isn't going to care about Israelite cleanliness standards.

You can imagine him thinking, I don't need some stupid Israelite cleansing ritual. I need healed. In his anger, he's not listening. You ever identify with that?

When you're upset, you don't really hear what people are saying. But look at what happens. He's got some servants with him. And these are humble, patient men.

We're told that they come near him in verse 13. And one of them gently reminds him of what the prophet actually said. And he persistently urges him, won't you at least try it?

I think right here I find the NASB's translation a little bit better. I want to read it for you in verse 13. Verse 13, my father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, wouldn't you have done it?

How much more then when he says to you, wash and be clean? I mean, you've come this far already. Why not just go do this simple thing?

By verse 14, Naaman has calmed down enough that he finally says, all right, all right, I'll go. So, verse 14, he went down, dipped himself seven times in the Jordan according to the word of the man of God.

And his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child. And he was clean. Flesh miraculously restored and he was clean, cleansed. And you know what?

We didn't read it, but as you go on into the next verse, verse 15, we're going to realize that it's more than just his flesh that gets cleansed on this day.

Something else gets cleansed too. And that's his heart. Because verse 15 goes on to read Naaman's words where he says this, Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel.

And as we're going to see next time, with his words, there will also be a commitment to action, leading us to understand that Naaman gets converted right here.

He becomes a devoted follower of Yahweh. Yes, this mighty man has moved from desperation right on through arrogance and anger. And he's finally arrived at humility and obedience.

He has submitted to and obeyed the word of God's prophet. And that has led to both his flesh and his heart becoming new and fully restored. You could say, both are born again.

Flesh and heart. I love how one scholar puts it, Dale Ralph Davis, he says that Naaman didn't just wash away his leprosy at the river that day, he washed away his paganism too.

It's an interesting story. We're going to go on and finish the second part of it next week, but there's too much here for one day. I want to just pause here this morning with you, if we could do that.

I'd like for us to step back a little bit, to pan back our focus, give ourselves some space so that we can reflect on what's happening here.

What do we see? What are we witnessing here? Can we agree that we're seeing the work of God? Certainly, the work of God. You've got a foreigner coming to God's man in Israel in search of physical healing, and he ends up finding not just that, but a new heart.

I'd say that's the work of God. And it's an incredible work. But I would submit to us that we're actually witnessing the work of God in several other ways.

In fact, I believe that our story shows us three ways in which God is working. And I think they might have some relevance for you and me today.

Three ways we see God working. Let's get started. Here's the first way. Number one, we witness God working in ways that seem mysterious.

Mysterious. We witness God working in what seem to be mysterious ways.

Let's not too quickly pass over a couple of really big things that we read about in the first couple of verses. Back up to verse one. What's it say?

The Lord had given victory to Syria by Naaman.

Wait a minute. Did you catch that? This is an enemy of Israel. The Lord had given victory to Syria. This is one of Israel's greatest enemies.

I mean, aren't the Syrians the ones who have been warring against Israel? Killing their king? Taking him out on the battlefield? Although he was kind of a bad king.

A really bad king. Isn't Syria the one who's been sending in these raiding parties that kidnapped this poor little girl and carried her off and made her a slave?

Yeah. But we're told that this is providence. We're told that the hand of the Lord is at work in this. Even in the lives and destinies of what are basically the godless people of Syria.

And then there are the tragic circumstances. I mean, let's not forget about this poor little girl. This young Israelite girl who's carried off in a raid, whose family probably got killed in the raid, made a prisoner of war.

Forced into household slavery. I mean, that doesn't please God, does it? And God is not pleased with this. God's never pleased with slavery.

And yet. And yet. Here. In a mysterious way. He uses it. He uses even tragic, terrible circumstances. And he works in them. Works for her good.

Works to bring her into the life of a powerful foreign general. To bring him to a man of God. Which will work to win the heart and soul of Naaman through his healing.

And make him a child of God himself. I mean, can you imagine Naaman returning back home? Which he does. A new man. New skin. A new heart. If this little girl could manage to be affectionate toward her master's family before the guy got saved.

You think it might have improved even more? Yes.

No. All of the evil and tragedy are not simply just erased with a wave of good providence. But today. Nevertheless. We witness the mysterious ways in which God works for good.

And maybe that's something that some of us need to hear today. To be reminded of this morning. That our God works in what are sometimes mysterious ways.

Maybe you need to hear that God works in often tough and tragic and unfair circumstances. And he works to draw hearts to him. He works to not simply alleviate some of the effects of the fall.

And that's what everything in this world that's sinful is. It's an effect of the fall.

He does some good for Naaman. I mean, he's got this, you know, baby soft skin now, right? Pretty cool. He could do some commercial endorsements or something.

I don't know. But the world is still fallen. His world is still very much a fallen world. And yet, Naaman now belongs to the Lord. Syria's national hero and greatest general is now a devoted follower of God, of Yahweh.

Guys, I want you to remember that we serve a God who is as involved in national affairs, world-scale affairs, as he is in the smallest-scale affairs of even his little ones.

A God who cures bodily ailments as a way to curing heart ailments, hearts that ail from the stain of sin.

So remember this when you're in a moment that seems hard or confusing or even unfair or oppressive. And lift up your eyes to look for what God might be up to.

That's the first thing we witness, that God works in ways that seem mysterious. But that's not all. Here's the second thing, number two. We witness God working through and for the humble.

The humble. We witness God working through and for the humble. Through the humble. Let's start there. That's our little Israelite slave girl, isn't it?

This nameless young household servant. About as powerless as any person could be in the ancient world at this time. I mean, if God was to choose to work through a humble human means, they don't get more humble than she is.

You know who else is nameless in the story? Those servants of Naaman who are traveling with them in the entourage.

Those very same guys who humbly and patiently speak to their master and actually convince him to obey the prophet's word. Think about that. Without the words of that servant in verse 13, there's no healing.

Naaman travels northward back home. Without the calm, careful words spoken by that servant in verse 13, there's no trip to the Jordan. There's no dunking seven times.

There's no miracle and quite likely no conversion of a Syrian commander. There's no fear.

The servant girl. The master's servants with him. These are people all of very low significance in our story. People of very limited or no power at all.

They are humble and yet God works through them, doesn't he? Could that be you?

Does that sometimes correspond to the way that you feel in a given situation? Where you feel like, man, I'm essentially powerless. I can't do anything about this.

Or maybe you feel nameless, you know, anonymous. You're not a person of great significance. You don't have great influence or incredible ability to change much.

If that's you, I want to remind you of what God can do through the humble. After all, as the New Testament apostle James writes, James chapter 4, verse 6,

James 4:6

Therefore it says, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. And then a few verses later, James chapter 4, verse 10, We're told, humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you.

James 4:10

So God works through the humble. But there's more here. Of course, He also works for the humble. As in, on behalf of the humble. And this is Naaman the Syrian.

Proud, mighty man of valor. This great man in the king's high favor. The one who is so angry over the perceived snub and some dumb instructions.

But once his anger cools a bit, And the words and encouragement of his servants starts to sink in, Something happens to this proud man's heart.

It gets humbled. Naaman humbles himself enough to start a 25 mile trek down to the Jordan. He humbles himself to, with all of his men watching, by the way, To actually dip himself into these muddy Jordan waters.

Not once. Not twice. Not third time's a charm. But seven times. The willingness of Naaman to humble himself. Understand that that was a means of his being restored.

The willingness of Naaman to humble his heart. Was the means by which his heart got washed and cleansed too. Not just his skin. Because that's what happens.

He emerges from that river. With not just newborn skin. But with a newborn heart.

You know, Jesus talked about this in the Gospels. Here he is in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 18. Verse 2, 3, and 4. And calling to him a child, He put him in the midst of them and said, Truly, I say to you, Unless you turn and become like children,

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

You will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child Is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Of course, the humbling that you and I are called to do Means recognizing and admitting that we ourselves are sinners.

That all of us have hearts that need to be washed from our sins. Our humility includes coming to the cross of the one Who humbled himself for our benefit And died a disgraceful death in our place for our sins.

Jesus Christ died for your sins. Providing for your washing. But you and I and every other person on this earth, We must humble ourselves and confess our sins.

And believe on him to have that cleansing. So I would ask you this morning, Have you been washed? Listen, you don't need to go dip in a river seven times.

You only need a sincere heart that comes in full assurance of faith. And that is something that you can offer the Lord even right now today.

So two things we've seen. We've seen number one, God work in ways that seem mysterious. Number two, We see God working through and for the humble.

And finally, One last thing. A third way we see God working. Number three, We witness God working in ways that contravene Preset expectations.

In ways that contravene, That go against, Preset expectations. I don't know about you, But sometimes I have expectations For how God should work.

And I sanctify them in my prayer life By praying my expectations. Do you ever do that? Find yourself in some situation of need, Or maybe you're in a jam, You're in some crisis in your life, And you have expectations.

Preset expectations For how God's supposed to help you. And so maybe you pray that way. God, What I need you to do is this. Lord, Help fix this.

And would you please remember the deadline. Lord, I don't know if you realize it, But the bill is due on the first. Right?

Lord, I can barely understand What the doctors told me about the diagnosis. I'm going to try to explain it to you So you know exactly what you need to do, Lord.

Father, Father, Please provide this answer in this way According to this timetable. You know what those are? Those are all of our preset expectations.

You know somebody else who had preset expectations? This guy named Naaman. He had some preset expectations. I like how one commentator puts it.

He says, Naaman had already written God's script for him. Naaman wanted what you might call Vending machine grace. Where you put in your prayer.

Push the button. You get your answer. Wave your hand over the spot. Man of God, Come out here and stand in front of me Like they do it everywhere else, Please.

Let me ask you, Do you ever find yourself Wanting some answer Or seeking some blessing Or needing some rescue From God? From God. But you also want to specify to him The way he should do it.

Sometimes you want God To give you a safe trip. Like we wanted last weekend And then something crashes into your car. And sometimes you pray for a dream job.

And somebody else gets the job. And sometimes you ask God for a healing. Or pray for him to rescue you From some situation. And the Lord allows you to labor on in it.

Just like our Israelite servant girl.

But he always works toward his purposes In all circumstances. God always works toward his purposes In all of your circumstances And mine. And when you're his child If you're a believer

You have a promise in Romans Chapter 8 That he always works for your good. So when your idea Or my idea Of how God's supposed to work On our behalf When it doesn't happen How are you going to react?

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Are you going to be like Naaman? Are you going to get disappointed? Frustrated? Some people even get angry at God? Get disillusioned in your faith?

Maybe to the point Where you don't see any benefit In following the word That he's given you?

Praise God for servants Like Naaman's servants, right? Praise God. Because they basically tell their master Hey, follow God's word. Hey, listen.

Just follow God's word Through his prophet. Well, like I said before There's more to our story And as we already alluded Verse 15 Shows us a dramatic change In not just Naaman's skin But in his heart And we're going to save that For next time

Because there are some other Surprising things That are going to happen But for this morning Let's remember Let's remember how God works And that his ways May at times seem Mysterious Let's remember how God works For and through

The humble And let's please remember That our God May sometimes choose To work in ways That contravene Our preset expectations ! But if you're his child You can know That he always Always

Works for our good Let me ask you If you would Bow your heads And stand with me As the team comes And we get a chance To respond In song today Lifting our voices Together

Dear Heavenly Father We come to you We pray through Your Spirit In the name of your Son Jesus And we recognize Lord Well maybe we don't Recognize just how much Our fallen world

Impacts the ways That we think And how we react And how we regard Circumstances And Lord How we're so averse To pain And suffering And yet through Those very things You purify A people For yourself You make us Stronger You do amazing

And incredible Works Sometimes surprising Works So Lord This morning Remind us Of your ways Give us Faith When your ways Seem to us Mysterious And maybe Don't make sense Lord Give us Humility

That we would Follow your word And just listen To what you say And Lord As we come to you Each and every day Each and every week As we pray for ourselves As we pray for our Circumstances And for our families And for every need That you encourage us In scripture To pray for

Will you remind us Lord That sometimes Our expectations The preset Expectations That we have Are sometimes Not what you Want to do And may we Trust you May we Humble ourselves And trust you

We love you Jesus We thank you For your sacrifice And Father We pray all these Things in his name Amen