Mensa Otabil - Wrong Expectations
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We’re still in 2 Kings chapter five, and we’re tracking the story of Naaman. In 2 Kings chapter five, verse 11, Naaman became furious and went away, saying, «Indeed, I said to myself, he will surely come out to me, stand, call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.» Naaman didn’t like the way Elisha handled him, and he also didn’t like the river that Elisha told him to wash in. It’s like a patient who doesn’t like the way the doctor told him to open his mouth for examination or to do some of the odd things doctors tell us to do when we go for an examination. The patient is not happy with the way he is being treated; that’s a nice observation.
Sometimes we are not happy with the way we are treated, even though we are the ones who need help the most. In our passage today, Naaman tells us why he’s furious with Elijah, revealing the source of his anger: he had expectations. In his mind, he had developed a picture of how he thought Elijah would act. First, he believed that when he arrived, because he was from the king of Syria, Elijah would come out and give him royal treatment. That didn’t happen. Then he thought a man would come out, wave his hand, and say some very powerful ecclesiastical prayer or do something dramatically powerful. That didn’t happen either. He believed the man would wave his hand over the leprosy, and then the leprosy would vanish. That didn’t happen.
I don’t know where he got those expectations from; maybe that’s how they do it in Syria. But by now, he should have known that the Syrian method doesn’t work and that the Syrian god doesn’t work. If you’ve come to the God of Israel, Yahweh, you cannot dictate to Him how He should minister to you, what He should say to you, and how He should make you well. Many times, we come to God with clear ideas of what we expect Him to do for us. Some of us have grand visions of how God should speak to us. We believe that if God is going to speak to us, we’ll hear a voice thunder down in a booming voice from heaven. So when we hear a still small voice, we cannot recognize that is the voice of God.
Our expectations can be a hindrance to God’s work in our lives. When we create our own expectations or come to God with expectations we’ve borrowed from somewhere else, we risk missing God. Naaman missed God on that score because he had expectations that were not met. He thought he would be treated in one way, but he was treated another way. That doesn’t mean we should be treated shabbily, or that people should not be courteous or respectful—that’s not what the lesson is about. The lesson simply says when we come to God, we must not have expectations of how we think He should help us.
When we are given instructions based on the Word of God, we must have the humility to accept those instructions. Eventually, Naaman got it right, but at that moment, he was very angry. Perhaps you may be like Naaman, feeling very angry because you think the cure to your problem is too harsh. What God asks you to do may seem too difficult. Maybe He says you should break a relationship or do something you don’t want to do. But if you truly need help from God, don’t you think it’s about time you listened to Him and not let your expectations cloud your vision?
Let’s pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, deliver me from wrong expectations. Help me to put aside my pride so that I can hear clearly from you. In Jesus' name, Amen.» Well, my friends, I’ll see you again tomorrow. I’m Pastor Mansa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.