You asked something of God and He wants to give what you prayed for. So why isn’t He doing just that? More often than not it is the process. When we ask of God, we usually prefer that the answer arrives in a way that makes us comfortable. Yet He prefers to answer in His own way and at the perfect time. His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). We must not forget that.
If you told anyone to follow a set of definite steps to get what they want, very few would have a problem. People can spend years of activity to obtain what they desire—as long as they are assured of it. Most of us get educated for almost twenty years because we know at the end, we will possibly have a better life.
However, when it comes to God, five days pass and it already begins to bother us. We start to doubt and complain. That tells me God’s processes are not too hard for us because we do other things consistently over long periods of time. The real problem is the way He chooses to answer. We do not see anything happening, we can’t see His progress and at times, we just do not like the waiting and dependency. When He wants us to take tiny slow steps it aggravates us even more. This takes me to the Biblical story of a commander of the ancient Syrian army named Naaman.
This man was a well respected leader of his country’s forces but he happened to have leprosy. He suffered because of the disease and the social stigma it came with. He however got to know about a man named Elisha who had been known to do mighty miracles through God’s power. He took a long journey to find the prophet and ask for healing. He also took gold, silver and clothing as a reward if he got healed.
When he reached the house of Elisha, he stopped his chariot outside (his escorting soldiers and their horses were besides it) and walked up to the door. Elisha did not even come out to greet him. He simply sent a servant to say “go wash in the Jordan seven times and you will be made well.”
Naaman was furious. 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. The rivers of Damascus, the Abana and Pharpar, are better than any of the waters of Israel! Could I not wash in them and be healed?” (2 Kings 5:11-12)
With the position he held, the wealth he had and the fact that he came from so far away, Naaman expected the man of God to at the very least greet him. All of a sudden he disregarded what he was told. He got onto the chariot and started heading back to his country.
Let’s stop there for a moment. Remember he had no problem coming all the way to the prophet’s home. He had no problem spending his money (he carried a lot of gold and silver). However because things did not go as he expected, he became disinterested. God wanted to heal Naaman. But it had to happen His way not the way Naaman preferred. Likewise, we may have our ideas of how God should bring us what we asked for and when it doesn’t happen we get angry.
Let us now go back to the story. As Naaman was heading back home, one of his servant’s asked if he could speak. He was given permission and he said, ”O master, if the prophet had told you to do some difficult task, you would have been willing to do it. You should be happy that he simply said, “Wash and you will be healed” (2 Kings 5:13).
Looking at it from this perspective, Naaman realized that he had not been asked to do something difficult, it’s only that it was not what he expected. He changed his mind, went to the Jordan and dipped seven times and his skin was restored. The Word says his skin became as smooth as a little child’s skin.
So when Naaman listened to God, God listened to him by doing what he requested.
Similarly we will get what we ask of God if we are willing to do things His way and wait for His timing. Usually it is not that hard but our idea of how He should answer complicates everything and prolongs what would have not taken so long.
Let us not only trust Him but also His way.