Wash and be clean?

Todays Reading:  2 Kings 5:1-14

2 Kings 5:13 - But his servants approached and said to him, ‘Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, “Wash, and be clean”?’

A very challenging passage. "Wash and be clean?" That is too easy, right? We have, of course, heard the expression "you get what you pay for". I think on a concious level we readily believe in miracles and God's Grace, but on a deeper level I am not so sure we totally accept it.  I think there is still a tendency for us to equate our efforts with the results.  The problem with this is it undermines God's mercy and grace. And maybe that is the point.  Maybe we have too high of a self evaluation.  Maybe we think that God has to do something really fantastic in order for it to count as a miracle.  Maybe we think that we have to do just the right thing.  We have a vision or an idea of what God's role in our lives should be and when it doesn't match reality we begin to doubt, or even rebel.
But while God does have expectations for us, and calls us to live lives that are worthy to be identified with Him, there is also the challenge of letting God do the real work and letting God set the rules and letting God get the glory.  Those are the tough ones.  We want to think that we are an important part of the solution, but that takes away God's glory.  While we do have to live and work, we need to let God be God and trust in that.

Heavenly Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to trust you to set the rules and do the real work and of course get the glory. Help me always to give you the glory. Amen.