Verse of the Day 3/5

Through the Bible - Deuteronomy 1-3, Mark 11:15-33

 

Good morning,

This morning I read a couple of different passages with a striking contrast in the course of a life.  One being a heart that desires to follow hard after God (David in Psalm 63), the other guided by demons.

 

Mark 5:2 When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil spirit came out from a cemetery to meet him. 3 This man lived among the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain. 4 Whenever he was put into chains and shackles—as he often was—he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones.   NLT

We may not think of ourselves as the demoniac, but how many times do we do things that we don't want to do that bring us and those around us harm.  If we are not "following hard" after God but instead choose to follow our own (evil?) hearts desires we may find ourselves far from God and tormented within.  We look back and say to ourselves "what was I thinking?".

 

J. R. Miller writes in "A Troubled Soul", "In this demoniac, we have a sample of the work of Satan--when he gets full control in a man. He destroys every beautiful thing in the life, and leaves only ruin! No chains could bind this demoniac. When sin is on the throne, all other influences and constraints become like spiders' threads in comparison! No chain is strong enough to bind the man--who has yielded himself to the sway of the Evil One! The love of a godly mother is a strong bond--but many a child tears off this holy chain and rushes into wayward and evil paths! Home ties are strong--but these too are broken asunder, by the victim of Satan's ungodly rule.

We see that the demoniac cut and gashed himself with stones. This illustrates what in many ways, Satan's captives do. They may not literally go about cutting their flesh with knives or bruising their bodies with stones; but they do gash and bruise their souls! Sin always wounds the life--and one of its fearful consequences is the self-destruction it works. Every sin one commits leaves an ugly scar! We grieve God by our wrongdoing, and we harm others when we sin against them; but we always injure ourselves--by every evil word we speak, by every wrong act we commit, even by the evil thoughts we think in our hearts. The self-hurt of sin is one of its saddest consequences!"

Sin deceives us, we go after something that we think will bring us pleasure.  It may do so, but most often it is fleeting and leaves us worse for wear.  Following hard after God can bring peace, joy, hope and love. 

 

What we find in the passage in Mark is that even if we've gone down the wrong path, Jesus is the friend who can lift us out of it, chase the demons away, change the course of our lives and bring us the peace that we so desparately need.  He instructed the demoniac to go back to his family and tell them what the Lord had done for him.

 

Tomorrow, Lord willing, we'll go to the passage in Psalms 63 that showed the contrast.

In Christ,
Mike
mikevw@bellsouth.net
http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com
Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace  NIV
Mark 5:1-21

 

Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Man

 

5 So they arrived at the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gerasenes. 2 When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil spirit came out from a cemetery to meet him. 3 This man lived among the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain. 4 Whenever he was put into chains and shackles—as he often was—he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones.

 

6 When Jesus was still some distance away, the man saw him, ran to meet him, and bowed low before him. 7 With a shriek, he screamed, "Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In the name of God, I beg you, don't torture me!" 8 For Jesus had already said to the spirit, "Come out of the man, you evil spirit."

 

9 Then Jesus demanded, "What is your name?"

 

And he replied, "My name is Legion, because there are many of us inside this man." 10 Then the evil spirits begged him again and again not to send them to some distant place.

 

11 There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby. 12 "Send us into those pigs," the spirits begged. "Let us enter them."

 

13 So Jesus gave them permission. The evil spirits came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd of 2,000 pigs plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water.

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18 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. 19 But Jesus said, "No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been." 20 So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them.  NLT