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Scripture tells us that we have an adversary (1 Peter 5:8). We have an opponent, a challenger, an accuser. And to help us to understand that the opposition we face goes much deeper than our flesh and blood antagonists, the Word of God goes on to identify our adversary. According to Scripture, our ultimate adversary is the devil. The devil has a single, solitary mission in mind, and that to devour us. Our adversary seeks nothing less than our complete and total annihilation. That was his aim for the demon-possessed man whose story is recorded in Mark 5.
The man in Mark 5 was in a desperate situation. He was living in isolation in a graveyard where he constantly cried out in agony and mutilated himself with sharp stones. And no one had been able to help him. The man had been bound with shackles and chains, but he’d broken them like child’s play. Then came Jesus. When Jesus encountered the man, He readily cast out the legion that had been tormenting the man. When the people from the town came to see what had happened, they “saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind” (Mark 5:15). As Jesus was about to leave the town, the man whom Jesus had delivered begged Jesus to allow him to go with Him, but Jesus told the man, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had compassion on you” (Mark 5:19). And the delivered man did just that. “He departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled.” Talk about a TESTIMONY!!!
That’s what happened in Mark chapter 5. Now let’s take a look at what happened in Mark chapter 4.
Mark 4 records Jesus teaching a multitude. After He had finished teaching, Jesus and His disciples got into a boat. Jesus told his disciples, “Let us cross over to the other side” (Mark 4:35). As they were making their way to the other side, “A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling” (v.37). Jesus’ response to all of this? “He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow.” That’s where His disciples found Him when they came freaking out about the storm (v. 38). “Jesus arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace be still!’ And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.” This is what happened right before Jesus encountered the demon-possessed man.
Jesus went to the other side for this one man, and then He got right back in the boat and left.
Someone desperately needs you on the other side. They desperately need you to do what God has called you to do, lest they be devoured. Will it be easy? Absolutely not. We have an adversary. And make no mistake about it, he will make sure there are wind and waves enough to discourage us from our God-ordained course. Wind and waves—no matter how fierce—do not relieve us of our assignment. When we face opposition, we have to lock into the authority that is ours (Matt. 28:18), command the wind and the waves, and do what we’ve been called to do. That’s the example He set for us. That’s the example we are to follow. Period.
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