11 Good sense and discretion make a man slow to anger,
And it is his honour and glory to overlook a transgression or an offense [without seeking revenge and harbouring resentment]. Proverbs 19 AMP
20 LISTEN TO ADVICE AND ACCEPT DISCIPLINE,
AND IN THE END YOU WILL BE WISE. Proverbs 19
We don’t always get it Right First Time, but WE CAN LISTEN AND CHANGE OUR DIRECTION OF TRAVEL!
In 2 Kings 5 we read the account of Naaman, commander of the King of Aram’s army. Naaman was ‘highly regarded’ but he had a serious Problem, leprosy or a skin disease. (That problem was to lead him to the Lord – problems have to be addressed and may bring change into our lives that we wouldn’t accept in any other way.)
Naaman eventually arrived with his horses and chariots at the door of Elisha’s house, but Elisha didn’t honour him;
10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, ‘Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.’ 2 Kings 5
The prophet Elisha told Naaman, ‘Go, wash seven times in the Jordan and you’ll be cleansed’. He was given the instruction to receive his cleansing, but without any recognition of his position and he left angry at the way he was treated.
12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?’ SO ‘HE TURNED’ AND WENT OFF IN A RAGE.
How Many times ‘Have we also Turned’ and gone our own way, but God waits for us to listen and return to Him.
13 Naaman’s servants went to him and said, ‘My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, “Wash and be cleansed”!’ 14 SO HE WENT DOWN AND DIPPED HIMSELF IN THE JORDAN SEVEN TIMES, (He did exactly what the prophet had said and received his miracle) as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.
Naaman went off in a rage BUT THEN he listened and obeyed. Not only was his flesh restored, but he came to know the Lord, his change of heart altered the course of his entire life. (Jesus spoke of Naaman’s healing to the Religious Jews of His day.)
Is God calling some of us to change the path we’re living on at present?
15 This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:
‘In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it.
16 You said, “No, we will flee on horses.”
Therefore you will flee!
18 Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you;
he rises to show you compassion.
For the Lord is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for/Hope in Him! Isaiah 30
He wants to be gracious to us but we have to take HIS PATH TO RECEIVE THE BLESSINGS HE HAS FOR US. It’s worth changing course to know God’s Favour on our life.
God bless and keep you today.