In today's devotional we read the story of the man from whom Jesus cast out a legion of demons. A truly remarkable story of deliverance and restoration, however, our emphasis is not on the man that was healed and saved but on the crowd who asked Jesus to leave their lives as a result of what at happened.
"Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned. When the herdsmen saw it, they fled to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. People rushed out to see what had happened. A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been freed from the demons. He was sitting at Jesus’ feet, fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid. Then those who had seen what happened told the others how the demon-possessed man had been healed. And all the people in the region of the Gerasenes begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone, for a great wave of fear swept over them. So Jesus returned to the boat and left, crossing back to the other side of the lake."
Luke 8:33-37 NLT.
It wasn't that they were told, they saw evidence of the power of God. They all knew the man and how he had troubled the community so that no one could go near him. Now he was sitting quietly at the feet of Jesus but they didn't care about that, the Bible says they aske Jesus to leave because a great wave of fear swept over them. What were they afraid of, that the demons that had left the man and plunge into the lake would suddenly leap on them? Or that the man himself could suddenly become violent? Whatever it was, they had allowed their fear to take hold of them to the point they asked Jesus, the one whom demons were afraid of, to leave. I pray that nothing in your life will be strong enough for you to ask Jesus to leave you alone.
