Misconceptions and false expectations can crush a man before he even sets out. Dreams of the lofty without the expense of the mundane have ruined many, and it nearly killed a Syrian general named Naaman. In 2 Kings 5, the Bible pauses from its history of the kings to focus on the ministry of Elisha, including this account of a Syrian named Naaman, a general who caught leprosy. One of Naaman’s slaves, a girl kidnapped from Israel, knew of the prophet Elisha who could heal him, and so Naaman, in his worldly thinking, was going to meet this prophet with all sorts of pomp and posture to offer great wealth to the simple prophet.
But the prophet did not care about money, power, or prestige. With simple compassion, Elisha told Naaman to simply wash in the Jordan River seven times and he would be cleaned. Naaman was aghast. The Jordan? That dirty, brown river? What was he expecting? For Elisha to pull a Jesus and simply say “be clean” with a wave of his hand. Naaman had expectations for how he would be healed. Note that he absolutely believed he would be healed; that was not a question with him. Doubt was not the issue. He believed just as the centurion believed Jesus could heal his servant. But Naaman had expectations about how it would go, and he was about to give up on the whole thing. Wash in the Jordan? How could this prophet make me sink so low?
But Naaman’s servant reminded him that if Elisha had asked for a great and wonderful deed, he would have gladly done it. So why not this simple mundane thing? Naaman realized his foolishness and finally obeyed. When he was fully cleaned, he rushed back to Elisha and vowed he would worship only the God of Israel, even when forced to bow before the idols of his king.
Naaman’s expectations nearly cost him his miracle. Expectations that are purely imaginary have destroyed many. Countless students prepare for college for that dream job, and while there are a few that make it and are good at it, many find out the hardships and the mundane aspects of the job and they quit. I can testify to that. I went to college thinking of civil engineering and using my math skills to be good at it. Then I learned what tedious work it involved, and I didn’t want to do that, and I honestly wasn’t ready to do it either. Had I retaken the courses I took with my experience as an AP Physics teacher, I would have thrived because I finally understood what I was doing rather than just being a human calculator. Again, what happened was poor expectations.
One of the common arguments skeptics have about God is how God did not answer their prayers when they were kids. The professor from the movie God’s Not Dead uses the excuse of unanswered prayer for the healing of his sick mother as his reason for hating God. This is a legitimate case with an illegitimate response, and it also downplayed the nature of sinful rebellion against God. God never promised such things, and what makes blaming God on such matters so wrong is blaming Him for something He is not responsible for. God does not have to act on things we ask of Him. He only is responsible for what He said He would do, and very often, we put our own expectations and our own desires on God as though He said He would do them. We need to be watchful for that because that is precisely how we confuse our own voices for God’s.
Naaman was not the only one who had problems with expectations. The Pharisees were even more known for that. The Pharisees thought the Messiah would be a great general that would overthrow Rome. Why did they think that? No passage in Scripture ever suggested the Messiah would be a military leader. They thought that because every deliverer they had in the past was a military leader. However, Jesus was not one such leader. His enemy to conquer was not Rome; it was sin itself. And it was necessary for Rome to rule Jerusalem because it was the Pax Romana that enabled the Gospel to spread so quickly through Europe. But the Jews missed Jesus as the Messiah because He didn’t meet their expectations; they had those expectations because they presumed upon God instead of listening to and believing God.
How many times do we miss God because of our expectations? Naaman nearly missed it. The Pharisees completely missed it. And we tend to miss it time and time again. It is fine to have dreams. It is fine to have visions. But if we are going to follow God, none of our dreams or visions are big enough for Him. We think too small. The Jews wanted deliverance from Rome. They may have gotten it for a season, but enemies kept coming back. Instead, Jesus conquered sin which was the root cause of the occupation, both sin on Israel’s part and sin on Rome’s part, but all in accordance with God’s plan.
We need to listen to God’s plan, and He is only going to tell us the step we need to take at the moment and only sometimes the big grand picture. I can testify to that. Ever since I was 15 or so, I have lived knowing the general plan/direction that God wanted me to go and the current step I am on in that journey. At first, it was being on the mission field where I got trained and began thinking about missions. Then came my schooling to give me the education I needed and the time with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship to be with them long enough to get the vision in a more concrete form, which became teachings and coaching. And today, I am a teacher and a fencing coach, and I absolutely love it. Why? Not because I am doing what I, Charlie Wolcott, wanted to do. I am doing what God positioned me to do, and there is no greater joy in life on this earth than being in the center of God’s will for you.
Don’t set your expectations too high, nor set them too low. Naaman heard he could be healed through Elisha the prophet and he believed it. His only error was dreaming about how it would be done. We believe Jesus died for our sins and is delivering us from those sins, but how is that actually playing out? That’s part of the journey. That journey may take us through great levels of suffering, and it will take us through spectacular mountain peaks. In all cases, let us trust in the Lord and let Him deal with the details. We’ll never be disappointed if we simply walk as the Lord has us walk.
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