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THE DEMONIAC BOY CURED
LORD’S DAY, NOVEMBER 22
Mark 9:14-29; Matthew 17:14-20; Luke 9:37-43

John 15:1-5

 

Never trifle with demons!

 

THE DEMONIAC BOY CURED
 
How dependent Christ’s disciples are on the company of their Master and on His help! Coming down from the mount, He finds His little flock in confusion. His nine Apostles were besieged by malicious scribes and baffled in an attempt to heal one possessed by a devil. The very disciples who a short time before had done many miracles and cast out many devils now met with a case too hard for them. They were learning that without Christ they could do nothing (John 15:5). It was a useful lesson, no doubt, and overruled to their spiritual good, but it was a bitter lesson at that time. How much we learn from such lessons! We do not love to learn that we can do nothing without Christ.
 
We need not look far to see many illustrations of this truth in the history of God’s people in every age. The very men who at one time have done great exploits in the cause of the gospel at another time have failed entirely and proved weak and unstable as water. Some great Reformers temporarily recanted under pressure. The holiest and best of Christians have nothing to glory of. Their strength is not their own. They have nothing that they have not received. They have only to provoke the Lord to leave them for a season and they will soon discover that their power is gone. Like Samson when his hair was shorn, they become weak like other men.
 
Let us learn a lesson of humility from the failure of the disciples. Let us strive every day to realise our need of the grace and the presence of Christ. With Him we may do all things (Phil 4:13). With Him we may overcome the greatest temptations. Without Him the least may overcome us. Every morning we need to pray that He will not leave us to ourselves but that His presence might go with us, for we do not know what will happen in any day.
 
THOUGHT: Every action in the Christian life is either in the flesh or in the Spirit, with God’s aid or without it. To face Satan in the flesh is to face him disarmed and vulnerable. To face him in the Spirit is to have Christ on our side.
PRAYER: Forgive me, Father, for my pride and self-reliance. Help me to humbly admit that I can do nothing without Jesus.

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