Read Mark 5: 1-20
Mark 5:9-10 The man answered, “My name is Lots, because I have ‘lots’ of evil spirits. He then begged Jesus not to send them away.” (CEV)
When I first read Mark 5:9-10, I couldn’t fathom why a person wouldn’t want to rid himself of the evil affecting his life. We pray for relief from our afflictions daily. Don’t we want freedom from all that is keeping us down? On the surface, yes. But how many times do we say that’s what we want but fail to actually release our problems to Him?
Why didn’t Lots want Jesus to remove the evil spirits affecting him? Mark 5:7-8 says, “He shouted, ‘Jesus, Son of God in heaven, what do you want with me? Promise me in God’s name that you won’t torture me!’ The man said this because Jesus had already told the evil spirit to come out of him.”
‘What do you want with me?’ That sums it up right there, doesn’t it? Ostensibly, it makes no sense that someone would reject Christ’s mercy and salvation. However, haven’t we all been guilty of thinking ‘but what do you want from me?’. It’s scary to imagine what God might ask us to do. What if He asks us to do something out of our comfort zone? When we fully believe and trust, He directs our lives. With that, we give up control which is never an easy thing to do. We often find comfort in the ‘safety’ of what we know even when what we know isn’t all that good for us.
At the end of the story, with Lots free from the evil spirits which had caused his suffering, he begged Jesus to go with him. Having found relief and peace from allowing Christ to heal him, I’m sure he didn’t want to lose that. Jesus wouldn’t let him, though – “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how good he has been to you.” (Mark 5:19). By accepting Christ’s healing and then going forward to share the good news, not only are we blessed but others are as well. And that is what it’s all about.
Today’s Prayer:
Dear Lord, Take my suffering from me. Help me to give it all up to you and then go forward in my life sharing with others what you have done for me so that they may also be blessed. In your precious name I pray. Amen.
Julie