Indescribable Pain

Bible students are familiar with Jesus’ encounter with the Garasene (or Gadarene) demoniac. You remember…it’s the story of the demon-possessed man who was so strong that not even chains could bind him. The people of the nearby village were terrified of him and he was forced to live in the tombs. This is the story where Jesus allowed the demons to go into a herd of swine which then ran down into the lake and were drowned.

While reading Mark’s account of this story the other day, I ran across a statement that made me want to share with you something from this story that might encourage someone in such pain. I think sometimes we think of those who were possessed of demons to have been oblivious to a lot of what was going on. Mark tells us, however, that this man was suffering a pain that I cannot imagine. Look at Mark 5:5: Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones. Why was he acting like this? I suppose it could be that the demons just wanted to hurt him, or it could be that he was just out of his head and didn’t know he was hurting himself. I’m not convinced, though.

It seems to me that this guy was absolutely miserable. He was at the mercy of things he could not control. He was in so much pain that he cried out and even gashed himself with stones. How much pain do you have to be in where gashing yourself with stones is an improvement? Like I said, I cannot even imagine!

I will tell you this, however…I have been in mental and spiritual anguish that was bad enough that I wanted to cry out and if I had thought it would help, I suppose I would have tried gashing myself with stones. There is a reason we find this story in the Bible. We have a lesson here that we would do well to learn. When we experience this kind of pain, there is a place we can go…a Person to Whom we can go to seek help and comfort.

Jesus did heal this man and drove the demons out of him. When the swine-herders ran into town to tell the people what had happened, the townspeople came out and saw the man they had feared so greatly sitting calmly and dressed. Jesus had indeed eased his suffering.

I know that some of you go through pain that feels this severe and maybe you are right this minute. I want you to know that I believe your pain is real. I know it hurts and I know that you want to scream out at the top of your lungs and in your mind, the gashing of yourself with stones does not seem like an unreasonable response. I also want you to know that God knows it, too. He knows just exactly what you are suffering. And He knows how to give you comfort. The first thing you need to do is see Him “at a distance,” so to speak, and “come a-runnin’!” Come and bow down before Jesus and let Him give you comfort. I hope this note will help ease someone’s pain. God loves you and so I.