The Janitor

Posted by Dion Todd December 16th, 2015 11,353 Views 0 Comments

Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, 'Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall come again to you, and you shall be clean.' But Naaman was angry, and went away, and said, 'Behold, I thought, 'He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of Yahweh his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leper.' Aren't Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them, and be clean?' So he turned and went away in a rage. 2 Kings 5:10 WEB

One night as our band was preparing to play a show, our drummer had an emergency and could not be there. As we were grasping at straws and trying to figure out what to do, the keyboard player pointed to the janitor, who was sweeping the floor at that moment, and said that he could probably fill in. Well I was very skeptical about this, because having an out of time drummer is worse than none at all.

She called to him, the janitor came up on stage and seemed right at home behind the drum set. He settled in, adjusted everything to his liking, as if he had done it a thousand times before. We ran over a few songs and he nailed everyone of them. In fact he was great, far, far better than our regular drummer. He made it look easy. He was graceful, smooth, and every move counted. He was certainly not struggling to cover our songs.

After the set, I learned from a friend that the janitor had played professionally for over twenty years until his shoulders began to bother him. He lived on the road with some big names while performing at places like Madison Square Garden, Caesars Palace and Nashville. From then on, I saw the janitor in a new light.

God rarely shows up as you expect Him. In the scripture here, Elisha sent a messenger to tell Naaman to go and dip himself in the Jordan seven times, but that was not what Naaman expected. He thought that the man of God would come out and wave his arms over the spot, and call on his God. He was disappointed and got offended.

The janitor playing drums for us was not what I expected that night, but it worked out better than I could have planned. When Jesus came to earth, He was not what they were expecting. They were looking for a reigning king, but He came as a suffering Servant. He was so humble that they missed Him, and they got offended.

Be watchful of the Lord showing up in unexpected forms, unexpected people, and unexpected places. The good news is that even though Naaman missed it, he repented, did what was asked and was healed. 'Don't forget to show hospitality to strangers, for in doing so, some have entertained angels without knowing it' (Hebrews 13:2).

Prayer: Father thank You for all that You do. Help me see what others miss. Guide me into all that You have for me. I want my life to be pleasing to You, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray.