Daily Devotions

Some of the conversations Jesus had were in difficult circumstances.  In Mark 5:1-20 we come across one such incident where Jesus confronts the man many nicknamed Legion; one possessed by many demons. Following the miracle where Jesus drives out the evil that possesses this maniac we come across a wonderful phrase, “When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had once been full of demons. He was sitting there with his clothes on and in his right mind…”

It is from this point that the real conversation takes place between Jesus and healed man. We can picture Jesus speaking with compassion to the man who had been healed. But at first the man wants nothing more than to go with Jesus and the twelve. Instead Jesus sends him among his friends with a mission to speak of God’s goodness. 

What the man discovers is that there are different ways of serving Jesus. As he listens, the man realises that what appealed to him was not what Jesus wanted.  The lesson to learn here is that we need to bring our desires before Jesus to hear what he has to say and we must be ready to change my plans. We would do well to  ask that we may do this too in the way that serves Jesus best.

God often answers prayer in a different way than we had in mind. I heard one time about a dad who heard his young son praying by his bed one night. The dad stopped at the door and heard the boy praying intensely, over and over again, “Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo.” The next day, the dad asked his son what he was praying about and the boy said, “I put the wrong answer on my geography test yesterday --- so I’m praying for God to please make Tokyo the capital of Mexico!”

Too often we expect God to adjust to US rather than for us to adjust to HIM. Sometimes … kind of like that little boy . . . our prayers miss the mark. We need to remember that God’s ways are not our ways.

Dear God, I come to You because I ask You for the patience to keep myself from making rash decisions. Give me the calmness and composure for every decision in my life, big or small. God, grant me patience even if the road seems long, and stop me from rushing my choices. Amen.