The man desired to be made well. Hearing a slave woman speak of hope, he decided to travel toward the possibility. This first step was just that, a step in the right direction. Within himself he carried preconceived notions of what his journey would look like. These notions brought him anger when he was given the answer for how to be cured. He nearly walked away from his healing because it didn’t agree with his idea of what it should look like. Wisdom in a servant’s voice brought him perspective to be obedient to his hope.
2 Kings 5:9-14 Naaman left with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent someone outside to say to him, “Go wash seven times in the Jordan River. Then you’ll be completely cured.” But Naaman stormed off, grumbling, “Why couldn’t he come out and talk to me? I thought for sure he would stand in front of me and pray to the Lord his God, then wave his hand over my skin and cure me. What about the Abana River or the Pharpar River? Those rivers in Damascus are just as good as any river in Israel. I could have washed in them and been cured.” His servants went over to him and said, “Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, you would have done it. So why don’t you do what he said? Go wash and be cured.” Naaman walked down to the Jordan; he waded out into the water and stooped down in it seven times, just as Elisha had told him. Right away, he was cured, and his skin became as smooth as a child’s.