God's Ways

Read It: 2 Kings 5:9-14 (NRSV)

 9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! 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?” He turned and went away in a rage. 13 But his servants approached and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14 So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean. 

Learn It:

Oftentimes we think of God as doing mighty works and miracles and we sometimes even think that they do need to be hard or difficult for them to be real or genuine.  In this reading, however, we learn that God can work in simple and small ways.  What a wonderful thing to learn...God at work in the simple ways of life.  Sure God created the world and even destroyed it in the flood but God works in the small a simple ways of life.  Sometimes we are baffled by what God does or how God does it but we need to always remember that God's ways are not our ways.

Share It:

What are some ways that you have seen God at work in the world that were small and simple ways?  What ways have you seen God at work in mighty ways?  Would you prefer to have God ask you to do something simple or something difficult to be changed like Namaan?  Talk about these questions and other things as they come up during your share it time together.  

Live It:

Spend the week listening for God's voice and listen to how God wants you to do things.  You might be surprised at how God's ways might be simpler or easier than you think.