When the Miracle Gets Messy

‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭5‬:‭9‬-‭15a‬, ‭ESV‬‬

So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s house. And Elisha sent a messenger 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 that 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 Pharpar, 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 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. Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him. And he said, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel;”

‭‭Mark‬ ‭2‬:‭4-5, ‭ESV‬‬

And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

In both of the above stories, the physical healing followed a spiritual healing.

God didn’t send Namaan into the river to humiliate him, He sent him into the river to humble him. The river wasn’t a magical formula for physical healing, it was a miracle formula for spiritual healing—which God knew would happen as a result.

And, in Mark 2—when the paralytic heard the words about his sins being forgiven—I wonder if he thought, “but that’s not why I’m here.”

Oh, but it was. He just didn’t know it—much like Namaan.

Both men thought they were looking for physical healing, but God had something much more important waiting for them. The means to getting there was messier than they expected—the Jordan River was dirty and the roof removal was messy—but those things were God's means to a spiritual end.

God's agenda is always spiritual.

So, when the means to the miracle is a little messier—or more painful—than we would like, we must keep in mind that God's ultimate agenda within us is not only a physical one, but a spiritual one! 

Oh Lord, thank you are continually working on us both inside and out! Please help us to lean into what you desire to accomplish within us spiritually, rather than focus on disappointment that our miracles might be a bit messier than we had hoped. Have your way within us that you might have your way through us! Amen.