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I said: "What?"



"Well," says he, "the thing hasn't struck me yet."



"Struck you; what do you mean?"



"Well," said he, "I go to church, and I hear you preach, and I hear

other men preach, but the thing hasn't struck me yet; it strikes

some people, but it hasn't struck me yet."



That was all that I could get out of him. There are a good many men

who reason in that way. They have heard some young converts tell how

light dawned upon them like the flash of a meteor; how they

experienced a new sensation; and so they are waiting for something

of the kind. But you can't find any place in Scripture where you are

told to wait for anything of the kind. You are just to obey what God

tells you to do, and let your feelings take care of themselves. I

can't control my feelings. I can't make myself feel good and bad

when I want to, but I can obey God. God gives me the power. He

doesn't command me to do something and not give me the power to do

it. With the command comes the power.



Now, Naaman could do what the prophet told him; he could go down to

the Jordan, and he could dip seven times; and that is what the Lord

had for him to do; and if we are going to get into the kingdom of

God, right at the threshold of that kingdom we have to learn this

doctrine of obedience, to do whatsoever He tells us.



I can fancy Naaman still reluctant to believe in it, saying, "Why,

if there is such cleansing power in the waters of Jordan, would not

every leper in Israel go down and dip in them, and be healed?"



"Well, but you know," urges the servant, "now that you have come a

hundred and fifty miles, don't you think you had better do what he

tells you? After all, you can but try it. He sends word distinctly,

my lord, that your flesh shall come again as that of a little

child."



Naaman accepts this word in season. His anger is cooling down. He

has got over the first flush of his indignation. He says:



"Well, I think I might as well try it."



That was