Last week I had the privilege of visiting with a gentleman from the Philippines. After several twists and turns, the conversation landed on fishing. With a longing glint in his eye, he described the water there as being so clear you can see the fish swimming through it. I’m not a fisherman, but I’ve seen water like that before. Not in the Philippines. In the mountains. Creeks, streams, even rivers so clear you can see the rocks at the bottom, know where to place your foot, be assured you won’t fall on slippery moss or unseat an unsuspecting snake. It’s a comfortable feeling to see and know what’s ahead. No faith required. You can see exactly where you are going. The water is clear. The path straight before you. Clear water is as good as it gets.
It’s most certainly the type of water Naaman wished was flowing in the Jordan River. Clear, cool, obvious stepping stones. A perfect path to recovery. It was not to be. As he rides up to Elisha’s home expecting at least moderate bowing and scraping, he is shocked to be approached by one single servant bearing a less than pleasant message. “Go dip in the Jordan river seven times.” (II Kings 5:1-10)
Personally, I like to think if I had been in Naaman’s shoes, I’d have mounted my horse and ridden hell-for-leather to the Jordan river and plunged right in. Sharp rocks? Dirty water? Snakes? A drop-off? Who cares? Healing is apparently under the waters of that river! The cure for a cureless disease is somewhere in that river bed. I’d be intent on finding it!
Not so Naaman. Angry no one made a fuss and disgusted someone would ask him to dip his clearly superior posterior into that muck they call a river, Naaman stalks off. He’s going home. There are rivers there too. Clean rivers. Rivers in which he was unafraid to dip his disease-ridden flesh. Why did they send him to dip in that mud stream? Seven times at that! He’d be lucky to live through it once! No. He’d just head home. He had clearly wasted a trip.
In the middle of Naaman’s tantrum, as he’s about to wheel out of Elisha’s yard, his servants make one last impassioned plea. Just try it. Give it a chance. “If he had asked you to do something great and awe-inspiring, even dangerous, you would have done it. This is simple. Why don’t you just give this a shot?” (II Kings 5:13) Really. Why not?
He had nothing to lose. He would get worse if he went home with no cure. He would get worse if the Jordan mud bath didn’t work. Either way, the only risk was one of staying the same or being healed. We chalk it up to arrogance, pride, social status. We deride him for all manner of evils. I have to ask, is it possible that buried under all the blustering arrogance that makes us gag there was an enormous boulder of fear weighing Naaman down? Was hope just too hard? He’d probably tried a hundred cures already. Nothing else had worked. Why should he believe this crazy idea had merit? Was Naaman really afraid of dirty water, or was he afraid to step in where he couldn’t see the landing, couldn’t trace the future, couldn’t ensure the outcome?
Whether arrogance, fear or a bit of both, the servant’s words broke through Naaman’s fog. He truly has nothing to lose. So off to the murky Jordan he goes. Cautiously he wades in and slips beneath the surface. Once. Twice. Three times. By the seventh dip he was probably hoping he didn’t come out with something even more severe than his current condition. As his head breaks back through the river’s surface for the seventh time, Naaman looks down to watch his arms appear and sees his meager faith become sight. Skin. Clean. Disease-free. It had all been worth it. Blind faith. Murky waters. Everything. Healed by following a plan that didn’t add up by human standards, but made perfect sense in Heaven’s calculations. (II Kings 5:14)
Elisha knew the benefits of blind faith. He’d watched Elijah practice it for a long time. He wasn’t new to situations where only faith in God’s prevailing sovereignty would pull him through. God’s prophets were constantly threatened. Someone was always seeking to take his life. He wasn’t worried. Even when Elisha couldn’t see how things were going to shake out, he calmly placed his faith in the sovereign God of the universe who constantly looks after His own, and kept walking. (II Kings 6:8-16)
Perhaps that was why he sent Naaman off to the river without ever speaking to him. Elisha knew it wasn’t the cleanliness of the water or the power of his presence that could heal Naaman. His healing would only happen if he laid everything else aside, exhibited blind faith, and stepped into the muddy current. The rivers of Damascus would never have had the same effect. Why? Because God’s requirement is blind faith. Placing his feet where only God could see the next step, even if his foot landed in muck. (Hebrews 11:6)
Elisha had to teach his servant the same lesson. Rising early, the servant stepped outside their Dothan dwelling to find the city surrounded by soldiers, horses, and chariots, a threatening gift from the king of Aram. In a panic, he rushed to Elisha crying, “What are we going to do?” Elisha didn’t fall to his knees and cry out to God for deliverance, a host of avenging angels, or a raging fire. He didn’t need to. He knew the God who had proven Himself to be Deliverer over and over again would come through. He knew His God was bigger. He believed without physical evidence or some grand event the world could see. Elisha believed God would care for them. And He did.
Turns out the hills around the city were teeming with a heavenly host of horses and chariots of fire there to fight for them. There were more with them than could ever come against them. They were never in any danger. God already had the situation in hand. Elisha knew that because his faith was safely placed in the knowledge that even if you can’t trace the hand of God marking the path ahead, you can always trust God’s heart of love and care for His people. (II Kings 6:8-17)
Jesus took time to teach Simon Peter the same lesson. They’d come in empty-handed from a long, useless night of fishing. Not for lack of trying. They’d cast their nets a dozen times. Nothing. Not even a minnow. Back on shore, disappointed, exhausted, and with nets still to clean, Simon sees Jesus walk onto his boat. He asks Simon to push out a bit from the shore and cast anchor. Simon obliges. As they sit there, bobbing on the water, Jesus teaches the people. He wants them to know things. True things. Things about Himself, His kingdom, His laws. I bet Simon wondered why Jesus chose that morning to teach from the water and that boat to be His stage.
When He finished speaking, Jesus startled Simon by saying, “Let’s go out to the deep part of the lake and catch some fish.” You can almost audibly hear Simon groan. He’s tired. He’s literally just been out there. If there were schools of fish worthy of a net, surely he’d have seen or caught them when he’d been there. All. Night. Long. But Jesus is asking. So, sucking in a fortifying breath, Simon replied, “We’ve been out there all night. We haven’t seen one fish, certainly not enough to put out a net. However, if You say it, I’ll do it.” (Luke 5:1-5)
If the fish were sleeping before, they were schooling now! Simon was about to be schooled too. Those fish swam in so fast the nets could barely hold them! When they realized their nets were beginning to tear, the men frantically signaled their buddies on shore to come and help. Even after dividing the catch between the boats, they were so full of fish they almost sank. Simon Peter hadn’t been able to see the fish. He didn’t think there were any there. He didn’t have faith for a great catch. He didn’t see a reason to row back out there. When he didn’t see the point, didn’t know the outcome, he still blindly took that step. The reward was certainly worth it. (Luke 5:6-7)
Sometimes everything around us looks murky and suspect. We can’t see the next step, find the next foothold. Sometimes we can’t see what God is doing, how He is working, where He is leading. We are tempted to sit still, hunker down, wait it out. Before you do, hear this. Just because the waters of your life are too murky to see the next step, when you can’t figure out how walking through the deep waters of now will bring victory then, when you can’t put the pieces together and determine the destination before you take the first step–still take that step!
Keep following God. Even when you can’t see the next flat rock. Especially when you can’t see the next flat rock! Cast your faith in the God who has proven Himself over and over and over again. Throw your gear in the boat, pick up the oars and start rowing with Simon. Brace yourself and edge your toes into the muddy, silt-laden waters with Naaman. Stand outside your doorway, lift up your eyes to the hills, above all the things of earth that batter your faith, and know from where your help is coming. Just step out in faith and let God do what He does best–care for and lead His people. His promise of continued presence wasn’t just for the Old Testament Israelites or New Testament disciples. It is for you. It is for me. It is for everyone who chooses to place their faith in the great God of the universe who holds all things together, through whom all things occur and exist, and whom you can trust with your very life. (Psalm 121; Isaiah 41:10; Colossians 1:17; Ecclesiastes 3:11-14; Hebrews 2:10)
So do it. Trust Him. When doubt stirs up the waters of your soul, swirling silt and mud to obstruct your view, don’t let it stop you from taking the next step. Don’t let murky waters keep you from following the path God is asking you to take. Don’t be rattled by what you can’t see–the next step, the next win, the next school of fish. Instead, blindly place your faith in the One you know is Sovereign over all, who never stops caring for His children. Boldly place your hand in His and walk courageously into the plan perfectly crafted for you. It will be worth it. Faith in God always is. (James 1:6; Proverbs 3:5-6; Romans 8:28; Psalm 9:10; Psalm 112:11; Hebrews 11:6; John 14:1)