In 2 Kings we have a famous story of a man named Naaman. 2 Kings 5 and verse 1
the Bible says this, Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, notice what the Bible says,
was a great man. This was a man that got a lot of respect. He was a great man.
People saw him as a leader, notice, with his master. He was a great man with his
master and honorable. He was respected. When he walked in the room people stood.
When he spoke people listened. He was respected. He was a great man and he was
an honorable because by him the Lord had given deliverance into Syria. He was also
a mighty man. He was a warrior. He was a soldier that had won battles and had
freed his people and he was also a mighty man in valor. The only problem was
that he was a leper. Notice verse 1, but he was a leper and the Syrians had gone
out by companies and had brought away captives out of the land of Israel, a
little maid. And she waited on Naaman's wife and she said unto her,
Mr. would God my Lord were with the prophet that is in
Samaria for he would recover him of his leprosy. And one went in and told his
Lord saying thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel. By the way
I'm not preaching on this but it's interesting that this little maid is
able to direct him to the man of God, direct him to God. And this little
unnamed maid was just a faithful witness, a faithful soul winner at work, just
faithfully when the opportunity arose to say hey I know who can help you. Notice
verse 5, and the king of Syria said go to, go and I will send a letter unto the
king of Israel. And he departed and took him with ten talents of silver and six
thousand pieces of gold and ten changes of raiment. And he brought the letter to
the king of Israel. I think I like this story. I think this is interesting. Verse
6, and he brought the letter to the king of Israel saying now when this letter is
come unto thee behold I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee that thou
mayest recover him of his leprosy. So the maid said hey you need the prophet. He
can heal you of your prophecy. The king says I'll write a letter to the king. He
sends it with Naaman. The king opens the letter and it says I want you to recover
him of his leprosy. And the king, verse 7, reacts. He says that it came to pass when
the king of Israel had read the letter that he read this clause and said am I
God to kill and to make alive that this man to send them to me to recover a man
of his leprosy? Whosoever consider, whatsoever consider I pray you and see
how he seeketh the coal against me. He said you want me to heal this guy? You know the
king. And you know it's interesting because often when we have a problem we
go to the wrong place for the answer. And he says, she said go to the prophet and
they go to the king. And the king says what am I supposed to do with this? How am I
supposed to heal? I can't heal you. Are you just trying to pick a fight with me? You're trying to see that I
can heal him and have a quarrel against me? Notice verse 8, and it was so when Elisha, the
man of God, who they should have gone to to begin with, heard that the king of
Israel had rent his clothes, he said to the king saying wherefore has thou rent thy clothes?
Let him come now to me. And he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. He
says he was supposed to come to me to begin with. Look at verse 10. And Elisha sent the messenger unto him, saying,
don't miss what's going on here. I'm sorry, look at verse 9. So Naaman came, now don't
miss this. Remember, this was a mighty man. This was a mighty warrior. This was a general. He was
very respected, very honored, very great man. And the Bible says in verse 9, so Naaman came with his
horses and with his chariot. I mean just imagine that in your mind. He comes with his
whole entourage. I mean they've got horses and they've got chariots and you can tell that these
people have money and they have power and they are coming down to the house of Elisha. And stood
at the door of the house of Elisha. Notice verse 10. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him. I want
you to understand what's going on here. Elisha sitting on a couch in his house. They look out
the window. They see horses. They see chariots. They see Naaman, this great captain and great
honorable man. And Elisha says, hey servant, come over here. Tell him, go talk to him. Elisha doesn't
even get up. Elisha doesn't even go to the door. Elisha sends a servant, knows who sent. And Elisha
sent the messenger unto him, saying, go wash in Jordan seven times and thy flesh shall come again
to thee and thou shall be clean. Imagine that. The door opens. We're here to see Elisha. He's busy.
What's he doing? He's in a bubble bath. But he sent me to tell you that if you just go wash,
if you go wash in Jordan seven times, thy flesh shall come again to thee and thou shall be clean.
Now notice the response. Verse 11. But Naaman was wroth. He was angry. He was mad. And went
away and said, behold. Now don't miss this. You ought to underline this in your Bible. He's mad
and angry. He says, behold, I thought. Expectation. I thought he would surely come out to me and stand
and call on the name of the Lord is good and strike his hand over the place and recover the
number. Here's what he's saying. I had an expectation that he would come out and there'd be
this great service and he gave this great call. I thought that he would come. I mean, doesn't he
know who I am? You know what Naaman is experiencing? Unmet expectations. Unacknowledged. Unappreciated.
And he's mad. And he's angry. And he's upset. He says, well, I just thought that. And the funny
thing is that if you look at verse 11, but Naaman was wroth and went his way and said,
behold, I thought he will surely come out to me. I feel unacknowledged and unappreciated. And stand
and call on the name of the Lord and God and strike his hand over the place and recover the
He said, I had certain expectations that have not been met. Are not Abana and Farfar and rivers of
Damascus better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned
and went away in a rage. And his servants came near and swag unto him. You know, one thing I'll
tell you about Naaman, he surrounded himself with some good people. And his servant came near and
swag unto him and said, my father, if the prophet had bid thee to do some great thing, wouldest thou
not have done it? How much rather than when he saith unto thee, wash and be clean? And by the way,
this is a picture of salvation. Most people say, well, there's going to be a great thing that I've
got to accomplish and don't have to do some great thing in order to be clean. He said, no, just wash
and be clean. Just wash yourself in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be fine. It's not
hard. It's not difficult. We don't need a lot. We just need you to follow the instructions you've
been given. Look at verse 14. Then when he down and did themselves seven times in Jordan,
according to the saying of the man of God, and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a
little child and he was clean. And here's what I want you to understand. Oftentimes we will be
enraged and oftentimes we will be upset and oftentimes our hearts will grow hard when we
have expectations. When we have expectations that have not been met and when we feel unappreciated
and unacknowledged. And here's the question I have for you. Where do those expectations come from?
You know what the Bible says? The Bible says, for we brought nothing into this world and it is
certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be there with content. God says
this, the only expectation you ought to have in life if you're safe is I'll give you food and I'll
give you raiment. And anything you get on top of that, just count it a blessing. But we say, well,
I can't live in this neighborhood and if I can't be married with this individual and if I can't
have this life or if I can't have this career or if I can't have this ministry and if I can't have
this and this and this, then I will not be happy. Where did that come from? Where did God promise
you that? Where did God give you that? We have unmet expectations but they are expectations
that we have placed on ourselves and our God.