We Cannot Bring the Patterns of the Secular World into the Christian World

God wants us to be diligent in our lives. He wants to perform miracles on our behalf, but He also requires us to take the initiative, to believe God, because God likes to move in the midst of our actions, as He moved in Joshua’s life, saying to him: I have assured you of victory, but see that I command you to be strong and courageous. Do not simply lie down and rest on your laurels; do your part in the miracle of victory and military deliverance that I want to accomplish for My people Israel.

And now we see another stage of this complex process, in which Naaman goes before the king of Israel, receives letters of authority, and it says: “So Naaman set out, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of clothing. He also took letters to the king of Israel, which said: ‘When these letters reach you, know from them that I am sending you my servant Naaman so that you may heal him of his leprosy.’”

I see in these words another element that God is putting into place in this complex story of Naaman and Elisha: a measure of pride and arrogance seems to enter here, along with authority exercised through the means men use. Remember that Naaman is a man of authority, a general of a very powerful nation. He is a man accustomed to the mechanisms of power and authority. I imagine that, as a general, whenever Naaman said something, it had to be carried out immediately. He did not ask favors or seek permission; he was a man who operated by force, power, and authority. And so his mind is formed and structured in that way.

So Naaman does not realize that, in seeking salvation from God, he is now entering a realm of the Kingdom of God where things do not work as they do in the world. In the Kingdom of God, we have to come with humility, with a broken heart, because the Lord is near to the broken and humble soul, not to the proud. The Word says that God looks upon the proud from afar and draws near to the humble in heart.

But we see here that Naaman has not yet had that encounter with God. He has not yet encountered the Kingdom of God and the way things work in that Kingdom, which is often countercultural and counterintuitive; its ways are very different from, and at times contrary to, the ways of the world.

So Naaman continues to operate according to his patterns of power, authority, and military force. He goes to the king and obtains a letter of authority from the king of Syria, a nation that holds dominion and authority over Israel. The king of Israel feels oppressed by that nation, which is militarily more powerful, and apparently Syria exerted some kind of pressure on Israel.

So Naaman does what any secular man, any man of power, would do: he goes to the king, gets what he needs, and believes he can bribe and pay the prophet to perform the miracle he needs. So he takes money out of his bank account—I imagine that nowadays he would write a blank check—and brings a quantity of fine clothing to give the prophet. It is as though he thinks that, by using his power and his money, he can manipulate things so that he gets what he wants.

Again, it is a human, secular, rationalistic mindset operating in Naaman’s life at this moment. But God wants to bring Naaman face-to-face with the realities of His Kingdom, where only the humble obtain what God requires: the brokenhearted person, the one who submits to Almighty God, the one who recognizes that we human beings are like filthy rags and that we must approach the Lord humbly.

Many times God is waiting for us to humble ourselves before Him. Many times life’s circumstances, the difficulties I mentioned earlier, and the trials we are going through are ways God is preparing us to be broken, humbled, crucified, and opened to His dealings with us. God cannot deal with us while we are too sure of ourselves, while we act out of self-sufficiency and believe that God has to do what we ask of Him because we are praying the right prayer, because we are tithing or serving Him. Sometimes what God wants is for us to be broken before Him, to become humble like children and dependent on Him, so that we become like an empty vessel into which He can pour His oil.

Sometimes we are so full of ourselves that God cannot do what He wants to do in us. Sometimes God has to purify us and put us through the press, as He did with Peter and as He did with Elijah during his time in the wilderness. God wants to break us so He can show us a new dimension of His Glory.

Perhaps God is speaking to someone today and saying: I want to use you, I want to glorify Myself in you, I want to bring you out of your difficult situation, but first you need to humble yourself. You have to look around you—at your behavior, your attitudes, the way you treat others—and be like My Son, humble and gentle in heart. You must be a true servant, whether man or woman, and let Me deal with the rough places in your life so that I can do what I want to do in your life.

We cannot import the patterns of the secular world into the Christian world, as so many people do, and believe that if we give to God, if we serve God, if we attend church, if we speak in tongues, if we pull the right lever, God will perform His miracle because He has to, because it works like magic, right? It does not work that way.

God looks at the heart, and God wanted to show Naaman: No matter how much money you give, no matter how many letters of authority you have, that is not how you will obtain the miracle you need. You have to be broken before Me. In other words, God is preparing Naaman.

Here we see the mechanisms of man at work again, but God is also preparing a great surprise for His servant Naaman, whom He wants to make His own servant, as we will see later. The lesson at this point is: humble yourself before God, be broken before Him, and let Him put you through the press and hollow you out inside, so that you can receive and contain the glory God wants to give you. God bless you, and it is a privilege to share the Word of the Lord with you.