He Seeks Us

by De Quency Bowen

God sees us even in dark places and can deliver us from despair.

“This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.” (Mark 5:3–5)

Jesus travels to villages and towns proclaiming the goodness of the Kingdom. He heals the sick, the maimed, and the blind, and even raises the dead.

In the Gospel of Mark, the Lord encounters a man possessed by a legion of demons. The story left me with mixed emotions. This man’s inability to be free of such spirits filled me with sadness and regret. He suffers a vicious cycle of being chained and breaking those chains, only to be chained again—and in the tombs, a place weighed down by memories of things that once were.

What happened in his life that caused him to exist in a place of memories? I wondered. He must have had friends. Why wouldn’t someone help him stay free? Unfortunately, in our world, we can never really know what a person is going or has gone through. Some people enjoy a beautiful upbringing. Some are born and must cope with whatever hand life has dealt them.

Reading the story, I also felt thankful and blessed that we serve a God who will seek us out even in a place of the unknown. That man possessed by a legion of demons lived in the land of the Gadarenes, gentiles who worshiped many gods, in the region east of the Jordan River. They herded pigs rather than sheep and did not welcome Jesus. Yet He still came to this spot.

When I read about the many instances in which Jesus heals the afflicted, I put myself in their place. It makes me feel good; it makes me feel loved. It makes me feel whole to know that Jesus has delivered me from my sins.

In this Scripture, though, I saw myself as the person placing chains of judgment and condemnation around the man. I grappled with that thought. Why do I sometimes judge others before knowing their backstory?

In the midnight hour

But Jesus can hear us weeping in the midnight hour. God cares about every detail in our lives and will listen to us and see our tears. He can deliver us from a place of despair. We serve a God who will choose the weakest person, the most vulnerable, to demonstrate to the world that He is in charge and has the power to change any situation we face. He can pour into our spirit and redeem us even when others may see us as irredeemable.

At the sight of Jesus, the demons plead for mercy. They know their days of inhabiting this man are over. The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, has arrived, and their game is up.

Even though a legion of demonic spirits possessed this man’s soul, and despite his repulsive appearance, he had great potential and value. This man could have been a father, a good friend, a hard worker, a loyal husband.

When Jesus casts the demonic spirits from the man into a herd of around 2,000 pigs, they go crazy and jump off a cliff into the Sea of Galilee. Surprisingly, the Gadarene gentiles who witness the event are unmoved. They just ask Jesus to leave.

Be grateful for His grace

After being healed, the man asks to follow Jesus. But Jesus tells the man, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” The man followed the instructions of the Lord to spread the word of his deliverance.

Aren’t you glad you have a God who seeks you out in places where He is not welcomed?

We should be grateful that He will seek us out because of His mercy, grace, compassion, kindness, and love for us. God chooses to love us because we are simply obedient to Him. For that, I am incredibly grateful to know that He seeks me.

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De Quency Bowen, executive chef at The Salvation Army USA Eastern Territory Headquarters, has a master’s in business management and leadership.