“But Naaman went away in anger. He said, “I thought for sure that he’d come out, stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the bad spot, and cure the skin disease. Aren’t the rivers in Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than all Israel’s waters?”” – 2 Kings 5:11-12 (CEB)
Naaman says out loud what he had pictured, and it is remarkably detailed. The prophet comes out. He stands. He calls on the name of his God. He waves his hand over the spot. Then the cure.
He had written the scene before he arrived. And notice where he put himself in it: at the center, receiving something performed for his benefit by a man who came to the door.
Then he insults the river, and he is not wrong. The Abana and the Pharpar run clear out of the mountains. The Jordan at that point is a modest brown stream. Everything he says is accurate. It is also the sound of a man walking away from the thing he came for, because it arrived in the wrong container. Where have you already decided how God has to show up?
God, I have scripted how I want you to answer. Forgive the times I walked past your answer because it came in the wrong form. Amen.
"He had written the scene before he arrived." That line stopped me. I've done the same thing with God more times than I can count, scripting the answer and then walking past the one that came in a quieter form. The Abana and the Pharpar sounding better than a modest brown Jordan is such a human move. Grateful for the prayer at the end.