Well, Father, I have so little pain and discomfort in my right hand that I have canceled the surgery I was to have tomorrow on my thumb. It would not heal itself so, Father, the credit most assuredly goes to You! Praise Your Holy Name!
Luke 4:31-37 (<<click to read the passage)
Our “modern” world seems to scoff at the main focus of this passage – “a man possessed by a demon – an evil (unclean) spirit”. Hollywood will run with it on occasion but the common person on the street probably doesn’t put much stock into its reality.
Let me relay a story from my time at Kohl’s. Several years ago, we had a family pass through in the vicinity of my department and with them was a small child. She was around two years of age and her interaction with her father (I presume) was shocking. They had a crossing of the wills and she was none too happy with the outcome and made it very clear how she felt. But it was not just your run-of-the-mill yelling, screaming, crying child in the midst of a tantrum. I have never seen such hatred and loathing come from anyone! Even at the time, my thought was that there was no way that a child that young could project so much evil verbally and physically! I was literally shocked! My reaction to the whole ordeal was that she must be the victim of demon possession.
Even now, I imagine many of you reading this are very likely rolling your eyes, exclaiming, “Really? That’s a little extreme don’t you think?” As I said, this incident took place several years ago and I can still picture her face in my mind.
We may jeer and sneer but the presence of evil in our world is most certainly real. And that evil can most assuredly be the result of demonic influence in people’s lives.
This passage is just one record of demons being cast out by Jesus and His followers. And just because we scoff or just because it makes us uncomfortable does not mean we can disregard its authenticity.
If there is one thing we can take away from this reading is that though our spiritual adversaries may be formidable, Jesus always has the upper hand. He is the one with unsurpassable authority and power.
Lord Jesus, I pray that we might never come in contact with such a level of evil personified but if we do may we never forget that You are sovereign and before You every knee shall bow both in the physical and the spiritual realm. Amen!
Dec 18th, 2019, Wed, 7:12 pm
