High-Functioning Brokenness: Why Naaman Would’ve Loved Celebrate Recovery

2 Kings 5:1 “Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.”

Naaman was basically ancient Israel’s Chuck Norris. The man was undefeated, respected, decorated… and diseased. You could almost hear the dramatic music: “He was strong, successful, admired… BUT he had leprosy.”

That’s the Bible’s way of saying: “This guy looked amazing on Instagram, but don’t swipe too far—you’ll find the mess.”

High-Functioning Brokenness = Us in Recovery Pre-Recovery

Naaman had high-functioning brokenness—he could still win battles, but he couldn’t win the one under his armor. He looked unstoppable, but the skin beneath told a different story.

Sound familiar? Some of us had high-functioning depression, high-functioning alcoholism, high-functioning anxiety. We were basically the Wal-Mart version of wholeness: it looked fine from a distance, but up close? Oof. Cracks, duct tape, and clearance-rack quality.

Our slogans could’ve been:

• “Holding it together with duct tape since 1997.”

• “Smiling at church, crying in the car.”

• “Boss at work, hot mess at home.”

Naaman Wants Fancy, God Gives Mud

So Naaman finally goes to Elisha, expecting a healing ceremony—maybe a red carpet, a prophet doing jazz hands, a choir humming in the background. Instead, Elisha doesn’t even come to the door. He just sends a servant with instructions: “Go dip in the Jordan River seven times.”

That’s like being told: “Yes, commander of armies, please go bathe in a swamp. Several times. Thank you, management.”

Naaman was insulted. He wanted spa water and eucalyptus towels, not mud baths. But God wasn’t after his pride; He was after his healing.

Same with us. CR steps don’t look glamorous either:

• Writing a moral inventory = basically skinny-dipping your soul.

• Making amends = introducing yourself with a name tag that says, “Hi, I was wrong.”

• Sharing in group = public spiritual karaoke without auto-tune.

Awkward? Absolutely. Necessary? You bet.

Recovery Is Awkward Before It’s Awesome

Naaman had to dip before he was healed. We do too. Not once, not twice, but seven times. Step by step. Dip by dip. Inventory, amends, surrender. Every plunge strips away a little more pride, a little more armor, until healing comes.

Naaman came up with skin like a child’s. And when we wade into recovery—mud, awkwardness, and all—God makes us new.

✨ Reflection Question:

Where are you showing up strong but secretly falling apart? Which “muddy river” step in recovery is God asking you to take?

🙏 Prayer:

Lord, thank You for not giving me the fancy healing I wanted but the muddy obedience I needed. Help me stop pretending duct tape is wholeness. Give me the guts to dip again and again, even when I feel ridiculous. And Lord—if I’m coming up seven times, at least let me not smell like river water when it’s over. Amen.