Better Waters and God’s Way

Usually the waters where I love casting a fly where the trout lie are clean and sparkling waters of pools and ripples.  But there are when these waters are brown like my morning coffee and cream because they are so clogged with mud.

Apparently this is how the Jordan looked in ancient times when a Babylonian general named Naaman sought out a cure for his leprosy from the Israelite prophet Elisha.  He was told to wash himself in the waters of Jordan seven times, but his memories of the beautiful, clean waters of his homeland caused him to despise the proffered cure:

“[11 ] 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. [12 ] 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. (2 Kings 5:11-12 ESV)”

In Naaman’s example, we see our own pride and willfulness because we do little better, seeking our own way of salvation and  sanctification.  Our corrupted wills seek to find our own way to God according to our own imaginations.  We should instead trust in the blood of Christ and rely upon the Word of God and the Holy Spirit to wash us of daily defilement and cleanse us from sin.

Naaman’s servant asked his master if the prophet had asked Naaman to perform some great deed of strength or daring wouldn’t he have done it?  But instead he was asked to bow to the prophet’s (and God’s) way.  And so the Holy Spirit humbles us when we come under conviction of sin and we are told to only believe in Christ and be saved.  We insist upon presenting God with our own wretched deeds. 

It’s time we spend more time in the the middle of the cleansing flood of Jesus’ blood and the water of the Word that soothes our soul and makes our lives sparkle with His glory instead of the dullness of our deeds.