Obedience is a key topic in the Bible. We see it in the choice Jesus gave Peter when he told him to follow Him: he could choose to follow or to walk away. Jonah is the classic example of one who initially disobeyed God and ended up in the belly of a large fish as a result! The story in 2 Kings 5 tells us of a foreigner whose healing from God depended on his obedience.
Naaman was a commander of the army of the king of Aram who was afflicted by leprosy. His servant girl urged him to seek healing from the prophet Elisha, but he did not like the answer he received. Being told to wash seven times in the River Jordan (that number again!) did not strike him as sufficiently important or grandiose. His frustration can be seen in 2 Ki 5:11-12: ‘Naaman went away angry and said, “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?” So he turned and went off in a rage.‘
Obedience is often a struggle for us. It can be hard to discern between God-inspired ideas and those which are self-inspired; it can also be hard when God tells us to do something which is unpalatable or unpleasant to us. Naaman’s initial thought was that washing could be done elsewhere; maybe he even thought that once or twice would be sufficient, but in order to be healed, he had to follow Elisha’s instructions exactly.
Challenges come as we walk with God and it is easy for us to want to solve these challenges ourselves. Often we think we know best, but all God requires is our obedience. His remedy may be unexpected and even undesirable to us, but all He requires is our obedience. Naaman, helped by his servants’ intervention, had the joy of being healed and from this learned that ‘there is no God in all the world except in Israel.’ (2 Ki 5:15) As we obey God, we have the joy of doing His will and, in the words of the children’s song written by Garry for the occasion, ‘listen, obey and be blessed.’