What if My Expectation Doesn’t Match My Experience

“So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. 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.” But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy…So he turned and went off in a rage.

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’!” So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.” -2 Kings 5:9-14

Have you ever prayed to God about a situation in your life, asking Him to do what only He can do, but also established in your mind an expectation of how He can answer it? Yeah, me neither.

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 36, I, too, prayed that God would show up, wave his hand over me, and provide a miraculous, unexplainable healing right there on the spot! We can always pray for this kind of healing, it’s a wonderful prayer. Sometimes it happens, but it didn’t for me.

When faced with difficult situations, we like to ask God to reach down and immediately alter our circumstances for the better. Even Paul did this when he prayed; “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me” (2 Cor 12:7,8) (I can assure you, I pleaded with the Lord waaay more than three times to take the cancer away!)

 But God doesn’t always snap his fingers and take away our troubles. Why not? The easy answer is – it doesn’t require any work or change on our part. Often in Scripture, God has a purpose and a promise, but we have to do something first in order to get to it; Ask, and you will receive.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Knock, and the door will be opened.

I think the reason Namaan was angry when he heard the answer is because he was expecting something easier – he was expecting a wave of the hand to fix his problem and instead he was going to have to do some work. He didn’t receive an answer to his prayer, instead he received a promise –“Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.” 

And to receive God’s promises, we must persevere through the process He asks us to go through. Whatever Naaman was expecting, healing doesn’t always come in the way we expect.

Sometimes the greater miracle is not a supernatural change in circumstances, but the work that is done in our hearts along the way. Sometimes humbling yourself and your expectations of how God can move is the greater phenomenon. Sometimes the audacious act of faith is trusting that He knows what the future holds and what you need now in order to accomplish His purpose later.

If I’m honest, my way usually still sounds like the better deal. The great thing is, Jesus gets it. He understands what it’s like when God doesn’t answer your prayer the way you want. He prayed “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me” (Luke 22:42). Jesus is intimately familiar with pleading and begging and shouting for God to change the circumstances, and nothing changes. Yet even in that, He showed us how to trust and persevere through the process and receive the promise. You are not alone in your prayers for change.

Whatever circumstances you are asking God to alter today; maybe it’s physical ailments, maybe to remove depression and anxiety, to overcome an addiction, to intervene in a relationship, maybe to get you out of a job you hate…don’t be a Namaan.

Ask God for the miracle. But if it doesn’t come the way you expect, find out what He might be asking you to step through in order to receive the promise He is holding out for you.

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