Keep it simple!

Naaman’s servants went to him and said “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you ‘Wash, and be cleansed’?” 2 Kings 5:13

Keep it simple!

Have you ever been offered that advice? I’m afraid that often when we are faced with some kind of problem we tie ourselves in all sorts of knots and get anxious and troubled. We make mountains out of mole-hills. If only we would calm down a little and quietly think and pray it through we might find it wasn’t actually as difficult as we feared. Keep it simple!

This was the advice that Naaman, the commander of the army of Aram (that’s Syria), needed. He had the dreaded disease “leprosy” - though given that he seems to have been moving about freely, and that he lived with his wife and household, probably this is best understood as some kind of non-infectious, non-contagious skin-disease.

Anyway, his hopes of a cure had been raised when a young girl abducted from Israel to be his wife’s servant had suggested that he should visit the prophet Elisha.

Fair enough: he was happy to follow the girl’s advice. But he wasn’t happy for long. For one thing, Elisha sent a mere “messenger” to talk to him instead of coming himself (what a cheek!); and, second, the message seemed an insult to his status and dignity - “go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed” (verse 11).

Elisha doesn’t so much as show his face! Naaman expected to have to “do some great thing” (verse 13), perhaps so that he didn’t have to humble himself too much. And then, so to speak, a loud roll of drums and a dramatic healing ceremony.

But no. Just a simple command to carry out a simple repeated action.

And so he stomps off in a huff: Doesn’t he know who I am? Dip myself in the piddling little Jordan? Haven’t we got rivers enough here in Syria? And why this pantomime of “seven times”? Pah!

It was only when his servants came and had – ahem – a tactful little word with him that he realised how foolish he was, and changed his mind. And what do we read? “So he went and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a little child” (verse 14).

Yes, you could say that he did indeed have to eat a large helping of humble pie. But I don’t think he ever regretted it, do you? Likewise with us: showing humility, even just saying sorry, is often hard, but oh what relief it brings! what a healing effect it has!

I think that many Christians – especially the more thoughtful ones – often have to walk something of a tight-rope. The fact is that we do have to grapple with difficult and puzzling issues. These may be of an intellectual type – the mystery of the Trinity, or of election and predestination, or of suffering; or of a more everyday type – why God often seems not to answer prayer, or how to be sure we’ve got it right when we’re called on to make difficult decisions. I think God expects us to bring our minds to bear on such issues; why else give us minds at all?

And yes, there are times when God requires of us some hard or demanding sacrifice.

But there are times too when we have to accept that we are never going to find a clear answer to our questions. We have to have the humility to say “All right, Lord, this is completely beyond me…” Ultimately it comes down to faith, to simple childlike trust. This isn’t being lazy; no, it’s being realistic. But it’s amazing how often that step of faith leads to peace and a whole new perspective on things.

Are you, perhaps, getting stewed up over some problem at the moment? Well, you certainly have my sympathy – I’ve been there too. But perhaps you need to take a leaf out of Naaman’s book. He eventually did the right thing, the simple thing. And God honoured his humility, his obedience and his faith.

Is it time to take a deep breath, to stop fretting, to start trusting, and to leave it all in the hands of your heavenly Father?

Dear Father, forgive me that I so often complicate things unnecessarily. Grant me, please, the gift of childlike faith, and so bring me through my doubts and fears into the light of peace and hope. Amen.