Luke 8:38 “Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying,”
This is one of my favorite little tidbits in the gospels. The previous verse had already said that Jesus got in the boat and returned. But, now we get the details of what happened with the man who had been delivered.
The picture being painted here is that the guy was trying to hop in the boat. He wanted to be with God. He wanted to be near the spout where the blessing comes out. He wanted to follow Christ like the other disciples. If Jesus had said to him, “Follow Me” he would have had no hesitation.
But Jesus didn’t do that. Jesus jumped to the next step with this guy. He deployed him right away as we will see in the next verse. There are some who are truly meant to bloom where they are planted. Jesus had a plan for this man’s life that the demoniac would discover soon enough.
Heavenly Father, I don’t want to stand in the way of Your plans for me. I will tell You what I think You want. But, I will listen to hear You have something different in mind. I will run from ‘good enough’ to chase after ‘best’. I want to give my life to You, to put at Your disposal for Your purposes. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.