Power Over Spiritual Storms

Text: Luke 8:26-39

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

          We all know what it’s like to weather a storm. We’ve had a few of them lately. In today’s world we’re rarely surprised when the storm arrives because we’ve heard all about it on the news and in the weather forecasts. We peek out the windows and watch the skies darken, but we’re not always sure how severe the storm will be. So, we batten down the hatches, seek cover, and wait it out, hoping the damage won’t be too severe, and the clean up will be minimal. In Luke chapter 8, the disciples encounter a major storm. They get into the boat at Jesus command to “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.”

Even though this account wasn’t included in today’s Gospel reading, most of us likely know the outcome of that trip. Jesus falls asleep in the boat. The winds rage. The water was filling the boat. The disciples wake Jesus up wondering if He cares that they’re going to perish. Jesus calms the storm and then asks them, “Where is your faith?” Given the many miracles His disciples had witnessed, Jesus rightly expected a greater degree of trust. And yet they still ask the question, “Who then is this, that He commands even winds and water and they obey Him?”

Where is your faith? Do you trust that God won’t be asleep at the wheel when the next storm comes through? Do you believe that whatever the outcome that God is still in control? That even the winds and water still obey Him? He’s demonstrated His complete control over nature. After all He is the creator of all things and holds all things in the palm of His hand. And I’m not talking any more about the weather. I’m talking about the other storms that rage in your lives. The spiritual storms of fear and doubt. Hardship, and pain and sorrow. The storms of temptation and sin. Just as with the storms of nature, we can try to navigate these storms. Get out of the way to the best of our ability. But we’ll never be able to avoid them altogether. God doesn’t promise that the road is going to be smooth, but He does promise that just as He has complete control over all things, this includes His

POWER OVER SPIRITUAL STORMS.

          We hear the account in today’s Gospel of Jesus’ healing of the Gerasene demoniac. And as we read it, it seems like a storm that we’d never encounter in our day. Like a malady that’s been cured long ago. An ailment that we just don’t have to worry about. We can relate to Jesus healing a man born blind. We know people who are blind. When Jesus cures a man who is lame, we can imagine not being able to walk. But “a man from the city who had demons.” Who “For a long time …had worn no clothes.” “Who had not lived in a house but among the tombs.” This all seems a little harder for us to relate to. So, is this just one of those accounts that we chalk up to a situation we can’t really relate to? Or one that’s just not relevant to us today? It’s not! Whether we want to think about it and whether we want to believe that it’s true, Satan and His demons are just as hard at work today as they’ve ever been. Despite the fact that a majority of even self-described Christians don’t believe that Satan is actually real or at work in the world today.

Those storms of life that you face on a regular basis; they’re a result of the sin that so easily entangles us. And the temptations that surround them are the direct work of the devil in the world today, and in your lives. And even the storms that aren’t a result of your own sin are the places where Satan can so easily gain a foothold, working his way into your life. So, yes, this account of Jesus healing the Gerasene demoniac is more than just a reminder of what God has done in the past. It’s incredibly relevant for us today as it speaks to His power over the spiritual storms that we face every day.

The Gospels contain many accounts of Jesus healing people from demon possession, but this is one of only two times that we hear of Jesus delivering a person who is possessed by more than one demon. The other is Mary Magdalene, who we’re told was plagued by seven evil spirits. This man had many more than that. In fact, they identify themselves as Legion, which if seen as an indication of the number of them, could have been as many as 6,000, which was the number of soldiers in a Roman legion. Regardless of the number, what we see here is Jesus entering into the storm of this man’s life and showing that His power over it was absolute.

Even the demons have no choice but to fall down before Jesus and acknowledge who He is. And their fear of Him is evident. “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” It’s incredible that, when faced with the Almighty God, Satan’s minions not only recognize Him, but also acknowledge that they have no chance in a battle with Him. And you know what? That should give you great confidence that when you face demons who bring on the storms of your life, all you need to do is show them whose side you’re on. Who fights for you. Because “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” The demons can’t help but acknowledge the One who is far more powerful than they are.

That’s Jesus. And He’s the One who fights for you. And at His name, they will beg for mercy, just as Legion did. “And they begged Him not to command them to depart into the abyss.” They didn’t want to return to the depths of hell, so “they begged Him to let them enter” the “large herd of pigs that was feeding there on the hillside.” And in what’s perhaps the most dramatic account of Jesus casting out demons in all Scripture, that’s exactly what Jesus does. “He gave them permission” to enter the pigs and “the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.”

From the Jewish perspective, this was a fitting end for both the demons and the unclean animals. Their demise foreshadows that of all who oppose the one true God who will on the day of judgement be cast into the lake of fire. But even as this was a life changing event for the man who was rid of the demons, it was also a significant financial loss for the herdsmen whose livelihood was now gone. I’m sure they were upset, even angry, but the emotion that Luke conveys to us is that they were afraid. “For they were seized with great fear.” This great display of divine power over the spiritual storm in this man’s life produced in them a sense of awe. The same fear that we speak of in the meaning to the first commandment. “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” It’s a fear that respects the power of God and knows that in His presence they cannot stand. And it’s the fear, love, and trust that caused the man who had been healed to be found “sitting at the feet of Jesus.”

          Do you notice when the power of the Almighty God steps into your life and overcomes your spiritual storms? Do you fear, love and trust in Him as this man did whose demons had been cast into the pigs? If so, what does that look like in your life?

In the late 1890’s, there was a famous tightrope walker who strung a wire across Niagara Falls. 10,000 people gathered to watch as he inched his way along the wire from one side of the falls to the other. When he got to the other side, the crowd cheered wildly. When the tightrope walker was finally able to quiet the crowd, he shouted to them, “Do you believe in me?” The crowd shouted back, “We believe! We believe!”

He quieted the crowd again and shouted to them, “I’m going back across the tightrope but this time I’m going to carry someone on my back. Do you believe I can do that?” Again, the crowd yelled back, “We believe! We believe!” One last time the tightrope walker shouted out to the crowd and asked them, “Who will be that person?”

The crowd suddenly became silent. Not a single person was willing to trust with their life what they professed to believe in, that the tightrope walker could cross the falls with a person on his back.

You may believe that Jesus is the Son of God, but does your faith surpass the faith of demons? Even they acknowledged who Jesus was. They knew what He was capable of. They feared Him in the fullest sense of that word. Are you willing trust your lives to Jesus? Are you willing to follow Him regardless of the cost? This man whose spiritual storm Jesus walked into and calmed was willing and ready to follow Jesus wherever He might go. That should be your response as well. Because your spiritual storm of sin was calmed by the death and resurrection of Jesus. Are you ready to follow Him?

For the man possessed by demons, Jesus’ will for him was to stay in this area filled with people who now had experienced the awe of this incredible miracle Jesus had performed. Because He knew that if he would “declare how much God had done for [him]” that many more would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus. God is calling you also to “declare how much [He] has done for you.” How He has stepped into the storms of your life and calmed them. Do as that man did and sit at the feet of Jesus, worshipping the One who has saved you from the power of sin, death and the devil. And then go out and “declare how much God has done for you!” Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.