The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. Romans 16:20
Mark 5:2–5 describes the scene when Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake: “When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet Him.… No one could bind him any more, not even with a chain.… Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.”
What a sad, eerie picture of a tormented life. When the man saw Jesus, he ran and fell at His feet. “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” he shouted. “Swear to God that you won’t torture me!” (verse 7).
Isn’t it amazing how the very thing we need is often the last thing we want? When the man encountered the one and only One who could deliver him, he didn’t call out for help. Instead, self-preservation was his first response. “What do you want with me? Don’t torture me!”
Now, I realize it was the demons in the man who spoke these words. Yet Satan often uses the same arguments to keep us from surrendering to the work of God in our lives. It will be too painful, he hisses. Why doesn’t He just leave you alone? There’s no hope for you anyway.
It’s much easier to stay in bondage, he suggests. Sure, you roam the graveyard of your past day and night trying to find answers. Sure, your mind is tormented by the pain. But that’s a whole lot less painful than what God has in store for you, the deceiver insinuates. Who knows what God might make you do if you allowed Him to set you free?
Does any of this sound familiar to you? I know it does to me. For many of us have spent more time among the tombs than we’d care to admit.
—Lazarus Awakening
READ: 2 Corinthians 2:11
REFLECT: Though this verse is connected to the danger of unforgiveness, what other schemes does the devil use to outwit you and keep you from God’s love?
Note: This post is an excerpt from my devotional At the Feet of Jesus, which pull readings from Having a Mary Heart, Having a Mary Spirit, and Lazarus Awakening, as well as unpublished outtakes from all three books!