Waiting for HIM

                    Originally Written in May 2012

     Just before falling into a deep sleep the other night, I was awakened by these ideas.  Even when my exhaustion had set in, God was attempting to teach me.  Years ago, the story of the man with a Legion of devils disturbed me.  I would always skip over those verses in Luke chapter 8.  There was just something so innately evil in that man's bondage that I couldn't bear to read about his anguish.  The Bible tells us that the man had been possessed of those devils for a "long time" (Luke 8:27 KJV).  
     
     This man was fighting a battle within himself -  His enemy was a Legion of devils who sought to destroy him and perhaps others in the process.  Can you imagine the hopelessness this man must have endured for such a long time?  Some of us can imagine this anguish more than others, but I believe compassion can be felt by all. We are told that he wore no clothes and lived in tombs.  If I stop just in that information, I am deeply saddened by his imprisonment.    I think how he must have appeared to others.  I think how others must have shunned him- how they must have feared this peculiar man.  "He was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil  into the wilderness" (verse 29).  Can't you see the fear woven within each link of the chain that attempts to bind him.  Are you as intimidated as I once was by the apparent strength of those demons to drive him into the wilderness -  a place void of the living.  A place for sadness to reign.  A place for the Devil to carry out his ultimate plan of destruction.   
        
     In these verses, the Bible doesn't reveal that there were any attempts made by the people to help the oppressed man   - only attempts to control or maintain what was already existent, for "he was KEPT bound with chains."  How this man must have endured such misery in believing that there was none to help.  Who would reach out a hand of love to someone who appeared to be lost - who appeared to be forsaken?  Oh, he must have spent so much time in this wilderness of depression and hopelessness abused by spirits who were driven by evil.  

     Some distance away, there was a group of men on a boat who were battling a storm that had enough strength to destroy them.  All on the boat were fighting their own fear -- all except for One of them. I hadn't placed the stories together until this moment.  Jesus was on His way to the man possessed with a Legion of devils when a storm threatened to destroy the boat.  Could it be that Satan knew the oppressed man was moments away from being set free?  Satan made one last pathetic effort to throw even God Himself off course. The father of lies had perhaps convinced himself that he could stop the Almighty. How foolish of Satan.  My how Satan wants those who are lost to stay in the wilderness.   While on the boat, Jesus calmed the storm.  I believe He knew who awaited him on land.  "And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is against Galilee.  And when he [Jesus] went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time" (verses 26-27).

       "When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, ' What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high:  I beseech [beg] thee, torment me not.' " (28).  What seemed to have enough power to keep a man bound for years is in the presence of God powerless.  He "cried out", "fell down", and begged for mercy in God's presence.  I can see in verse 28 a man who believes that the Son of God would have nothing to do with him.  I can also see a mass of demons who know what Jesus can do to them, and they fear Him.  They knew that in the presence of Jesus they could NOT remain in this man.  They didn't even ask to remain in him; instead, they beg Jesus to allow them to incarnate a herd of swine.  Does this speak to you as it does to me?  In the presence of God, evil CANNOT abide - it cannot stay, it cannot grow, it cannot continue to be the parasite any longer.  

     "Then they [the people] went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid" (verse 35).  What peace this man must have felt at the feet of Jesus.  He showed this man and He has shown me - True peace awaits all of us only at the feet of Jesus.  No matter your burden, anguish, fear, disappointment -- no matter what evil befalls you, no matter what is seeking to destroy you - none of these can stand in the presence of God.  When God passes by you while you are in the wilderness - and He will pass by you when you are in the wilderness; this I know for certain -  fall at His feet and watch what miracles He will perform.

        The story doesn't end with the man's healing.  The people did not rejoice; instead, they were afraid of Jesus.  They feared what He had done and asked Him to leave.  Even when face to face with evidence, there are those who reject Jesus.  When some hear or see a miracle, they explain it away.  An unbelieving man once created the word "coincidence", and so many others have placed their faith in a word created by a man who chose not to sit at the feet of Jesus.  

      As He "went up into the ship," (37) the healed man asked to go with him, but Jesus responded, " 'Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee.' And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him. And it came to pass, that, when Jesus was returned, the people gladly received Him: for they were all waiting for Him" (verses 39-40).  Jesus "returned" to a land where he had been asked to leave - where he had been rejected by the people.  Although  they wanted nothing to do with Him originally, He returned to a people who were now willing to accept Him.  They were "waiting for Him."  He returned to them because He Who Knows All knew that they were "waiting for Him."    If in doubt, know this:  There is a God who will not abandon those who are "waiting for Him."  

      In this earthly life that we live, know that Jesus Christ - the great I AM of the Bible-  will not abandon those who wait for Him.