Guess What I Missed

There is something I’ve missed every time I read in the Book of Mark about the demon-possessed man who called himself “Legion.” Can you guess what I didn’t see?

“They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs.” – Mark 5:1–3

Yes, I overlooked the word “immediately.” To enforce the importance of immediacy, Mark wrote, “when Jesus had stepped out of the boat.” So, the moment Jesus touched land, Legion, who lived among the tombs, was there to confront Him.

The Enemy and his “legions” see where we are going and prepare their attacks before we arrive. This isn’t a metaphor; it is the battle that Paul writes about in Ephesians 6:12, “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

Therefore, we should not be surprised when difficulties happen at our local church functions or when unexpected problems flare up when you are doing a good deed for someone. These enemies of God cannot read our thoughts, but they are experts in human nature and have well-proven tools for causing chaos.

The salvation that Jesus won provides us with “the whole armor of God,” and it comes with the promise that when we have done all we can do, God makes us able to “stand firm.” (Ephesians 6:10-20)

So, Legion, possessed by demons, met Jesus, yet left this encounter a free man, released from the bondage he had suffered and commissioned by Jesus to be His missionary to the Gerasenes people group.

Live for Jesus. That’s what matters.