“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9, NIV)
Naaman went away angry. He said, “Look, I thought for sure he would come out, stand there, invoke the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the area, and cure the skin disease.” (2 Kings 5:11)
Namaan, the Syrian general, was furious! When he came to see Elisha to heal his leprosy, he never imagined Elisha would send a messenger. He assumed Elisha himself would come out, call on the name of the Lord, wave his hand over his leprosy and cure him. How mistaken he was!
God had a different plan. Perhaps he wanted to break Namaan’s pride. Namaan was told to go dunk himself in the Jordan River seven times. This made no sense to him, and he almost missed the blessing of God’s healing by refusing at first to do as he was commanded. He mistakenly thought he could have dunked himself in a river back home that was, in his opinion, cleaner than the Jordan.
The Scripture makes it clear that God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours, as the heavens are higher than the earth. Often, we don’t understand why certain things are happening or why we need to go through certain experiences. Perhaps, like Namaan, we need discipline or God needs to break our pride.
In KingdomNomics, we study the people in the Old Testament because we can learn lessons that we need to apply to our own lives. This is a part of soaking our heart, as a sponge, in the Word of God. And it helps us to grow closer to him.
Today, ask yourself:
In what areas of my life am I presuming that I have a better plan than God has for me? Am I willing to humbly confess my pride and ask God to show me his plan?
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