Naaman’s head must fill with expectations as he approaches the prophet Elisha’s house. Finally, he can be cured, he hopes. We imagine that Naaman has dreamt of this day for so long. So long that he knows what his cheers of “I’m healed! I’m healed!” will sound like all the way back to Aram. He might remember what his wife’s touch will feel like again. He may think of what the gazes of strangers will be without his outcast status. He knows. And he cannot wait for it!

But then healing does not come as Naaman has imagined. Naaman has envisioned that Elisha would come out to him, pray to God, and heal him on the spot. Instead Elisha tells Naaman to go to the Jordan River and wash himself seven times. This requires Naaman to do just one more thing. In hearing such news, Naaman is angry and disappointed. He fires back to Elisha questioning his judgment. Why did he have to come to Israel’s river? Aren’t there acceptable rivers back at home? Naaman feels overwhelmed by the dissonance between what he wants and reality. So, Naaman almost misses his chance for healing. If not for a servant’s encouragement to heed Elisha’s instructions, Naaman would have missed his cure from leprosy.

How often do we, like Naaman, miss out on an experience of God because we’re upset life is not unfolding as we imagined it? We balk at the instructions offered to us through wise counsel. If it’s not our idea first, we don’t want to try it. Yet, the story of Naaman encourages us to consider how God’s guidance for our lives appears differently than we would have expected. Our job is to listen and to obey when the instructions come.