“Elisha sent out a messenger who said, “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored and become clean.”” – 2 Kings 5:10 (CEB)
Naaman arrives with horses, chariots, and a fortune, and stops at the prophet’s door. Elisha does not come out.
He sends a messenger with seven words of instruction. No ceremony, no audience, no acknowledgment of who is standing in the road. For a man used to being received, the insult is not the river. The insult is that the prophet did not think the occasion required him.
There is something deliberate in that. Elisha refuses to let the healing look like a transaction between important men. He will not be the impressive half of it. Whatever is about to happen in that water, it will not be something Naaman can credit to the standing of the person who arranged it. Where are you waiting for an impressive answer when a plain one is already at your door?
God who does not perform for me, take away my need for the answer to arrive impressively. Let me receive what is offered plainly. Amen.