50 Days to More: Day Thirty-Four

50 Days to More

A Seven Week Campaign to Begin 2018

Week 5: Cultivating the Habit of Hourly Obedience

Day Thirty-Four  (2/9/18): Partial Obedience
Recommended Reading: 2 Kings 5:1-14

The story of Namaan’s healing of leprosy is quite powerful. There are several lessons we can learn here today from this one story about the consequences of partial obedience.

Namaan was a prestigious man in Syria, he was actually a commander of the army. However, he was also a leper. An Israelite servant girl told Namaan about the prophet Elisha in Israel who could cure him of his leprosy. He sent a request to the king to visit Israel and find this prophet to heal him of this disease.

When Namaan came to the door of Elisha’s house, he was given an instruction. This strange instruction was to dip in the Jordan River 7 times. Now let’s talk about the ridiculous nature of this instruction. Often God’s instructions will appear ridiculous to us. The Jordan River was known as being very muddy. In fact there were livestock all along the river that waded in the water, drank from the water, and their body fluids were all washed into the water. Namaan mentioned to himself and his servants that the beautiful rivers in Syria were much more pure than the Jordan River.

Since he was a leper, he had open sores on his body. Leprosy is an infectious skin disease and open sores are extremely susceptible to infections. So the fact that this water was so dirty was a big obstacle for Namaan.

At first he totally refused this instruction, and also he was appalled that Elisha didn’t even come out to pray and talk with him. But he realized that he had traveled all that way and he might as well obey the instruction. What if Namaan would have only dipped in the river 1 time? Would he have gotten the miracle? No.

Partial obedience is the equivalent of total disobedience. Although Namaan thought the instruction was absurd, he still knew that he had to obey the instruction fully to reap its benefits. In the process of him fulfilling the complete instruction – the miracle came!

Do you remember the story of the 10 lepers in the Gospels that asked Jesus to heal them? He told them to go show themselves to the priest (Luke 17:11-19). They were only cleansed as they were on the way to see the priest. Jesus knew the priest was the only one who was able to declare the lepers CLEAN. It took a lot of faith for them to visit the priest without having received the miracle yet. But they followed the instructions anyways. Perhaps if they had stopped short of walking all the way there, they would not have received their miracle.

When God wants to do a miracle in your life, He will give you a set of instructions. It’s up to you to fulfill it, but you must do it in its entirety. Partial obedience is actually disobedience, and God cannot reward you for your disobedience. Decide today to obey His every instruction, no matter how it sounds to human logic and intellect. God may just ask you to do the inconceivable in order for you to receive the impossible!

“Then Jesus answered, ‘Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ And he said to him, ‘Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.’” Luke 17:17-19 (ESV)

Compiled by Christine Thompson & Meredith Hobbs
Taken from the Sermon Series “7 Steps to One Thousand Times More”
By Pastor Timothy Coats
Family First Church - Spring Hill, Florida