Day 98, or April the 8th.
Keep it simple, stupid.
Our thoughts are rooted in 2 Kings chapter 5 verse 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?
And the big picture surrounding this verse.
After Elijah is taken up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elisha remains and is involved in many miracles,
including the healing of Naaman.
Naaman wanted something difficult so that, in a sense, he was earning his healing.
But God doesn't work that way.
Some of Elisha's miracles seem trivial and defy logic when you first read about them,
such as a floating axe-head.
That's just impossible.
However, if it were not impossible, then it wouldn't be a miracle, would it?
Arguing against miracles does tend to take you round in circles until you finally acknowledge
that if God is God, then miracles are well within his sphere of influence.
Whether or not we can understand them or explain how they work is often not a fruitful part
of the debate.
Now today's action step.
If it's simple, then it can't be edifying or effective.
Some say this about the Gospel, and, like Naaman of old, they are in danger of missing
the blessing because it doesn't stretch them intellectually.
I remember working with a man who was annoyed whenever he recalled that, as a child, he
was told by his vicar that the Holy Trinity was a mystery.
My colleague insisted that it was the job of the clergy to explain everything if they
were truly men of God.
How could an intelligent man actually believe that?
I know you can get a pocket-sized Bible, but a pocket-sized God is a contradiction in terms.
It took a simple Jewish girl to help Naaman understand and resolve his dilemma.
When God tells you to do the simple thing, just do it.
Remember, we are saved by faith, not by intellect.
Be childlike today, because it's the only way to truly understand.