Monday 30 Jan 2023

January 30: Mark 5:1-13

Key Verse: Mark 5:13
He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

Devotion:
This is one of those stories from the bible which makes me feel uncomfortable in many ways. We do face many things in our lives which can make us feel very uncomfortable but when we know they are the truth we need to accept them and move on by trying to understand them. My heart goes out to the man because he had not been in control of his own life for a long time now; the spirits or demons had controlled his life and made it quite miserable.

When Jesus saw the state the man was in, He had compassion over him and did what was right. The first things was to tell the impure spirit to leave the man alone. That, I actually find comforting. No matter what state we are in and no matter how far we seem to be away from God, He is always willing to come and meet with us in the state we are in.

When Jesus confronted the spirit He found there was not one spirit but many spirit who were controlling the man; they were probably fighting amongst themselves all of his life and making him do all manner of things. That is the first an most upsetting thing which bothers me. How can anything or anyone be so mean as to take over a persons life and not allow them to live it. God gives us a free choice to live the life we want to, even if it goes against what He knows is best!

After that, the spirits knew they were in a spot of bother because they had been found out. The last thing they wanted was to be tortured like they were torturing the man… in this modern age we would probably find a lot of people who would be willing to place the blame on the spirits and condemn them to a life of torture – that is what gets me the most… that is the age in which we live!

Points to Ponder:
Are you quick to judge others and blame them for things going wrong?

Would you be willing to allow Jesus to have control in your life?