Looking for an Answer

So many times, I find myself asking God for a yes or no answer. I just want a clear, simple answer. When I am going through something, and I am praying for help, I wish so bad that God could be like a magic eight ball. I wish I could just ask my question, say my request, shake my magic eight ball of God, and have the answer just appear before me.

But then I realized, that is my flesh. A magic eight ball is made with only twenty answers inside. That worldly toy is limited to only twenty answers it can give you. It’s origins are not even of God and are not used for God to this day. However, in seeking the God we serve, we’re offered innumerable and inconceivable answers to our questions. We crave a simple yes or no to our questions, but God cannot be limited to what answers we imagine. His ways and reasons are so much more complex than we can ever begin to understand. Yet, still, other times, they can be all so simple that shaking that magic eight ball isn’t even necessary.

In 2 Kings 5, there lived a man named Naaman. He was a great commander, but he was a leper. He was advised to seek the prophet Elisha where he was told he would be healed of his leprosy. After preparing for and making the journey, Naaman finally arrived at Elisha’s door. However, Elisha’s answer of healing was sending a servant to tell Naaman to wash in the Jordan River seven times. Naaman was furious. This was not the answer he was expecting. Why couldn’t Elisha himself be the one to come out? Why couldn’t he just wave his hands over him while calling on God for healing? Why couldn’t he at least pick a mightier river than the dirty Jordan? This wasn’t what he had pictured, what he had traveled for, what he had dreamed about.

But Naaman’s healing wasn’t limited to what his own mind could come up with. It wasn’t limited to the only answers created inside of the magic eight ball.

To Naaman’s resistance, his servants questioned, “If the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” (vs 13)

Even his servants expected that God in all His vastness could have asked the world of Naaman in return for his healing yet chose a simple act. Naaman probably spent half his journey imagining the unending possibilities of what Elisha was going to do to heal him. Instead, Elisha’s answer caught Naaman completely off guard. It was so simple that it didn’t even seem legitimate.

His servants were right though. He would have done anything for his healing, so what trouble could it be than to accept the answer he was given. Naaman washed in the Jordan seven times, and he was healed and made clean. At that point, he knew there was no other God but the God of Israel.

We may not always get the answer we are expecting. We may not understand why it feels like God isn’t answering us at all. However, the Bible lets us know that if we have faith and are obedient to His will, He hears us. He has a plan for us. Our answer could be right there. Naaman’s healing was so unbelievably close, yet he almost missed it entirely. Do not let God be restricted to the only answers you can come up with in your mind. Your answer, your healing, your miracle could be right in front of you.