Matthew 8:34 And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.
The More You Trust Him
Matthew 8 reminds us that even when Jesus Christ limited Himself to His earthly body, that is to say, to time and to space, He was still God, still the Lord, and still in control. In Matthew 8 there are different parties who begged, asked, or besought Jesus. Jesus worked miracles for a leper, a centurion, Peter’s mother-in-law, and two men possessed of devils, among others. It is interesting to note that on one of these occasions Jesus was asked, “Come, help,” and another occasion He was asked, “Please, go.”
Matthew 8:5-7 says, “And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.” The centurion went on to say, “I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.” Jesus marveled and said, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” Then to the centurion He said, “As thou hast believed, so be it unto thee.”
This man trusted that Jesus is Who He claimed to be, and he trusted Him to help with his servant, to meet the need. I think that our stance toward the Lord Jesus says something of both our values and our character. Here was a man who was rich with great authority, yet he humbled himself and yielded to the authority of the Lord Jesus. He begged Jesus, “Please, help.”
In great contrast, when Jesus cast out devils from two men, the devils went into a herd of swine that subsequently ran off a cliff into the ocean and perished. When people heard about this “the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.” They also begged, asked, and implored Him, but they didn’t ask Him to come help; they asked Him to please go. They valued their hogs more than they valued their neighbors. These people could ill afford to lose their hogs, even if it meant the healing of their neighbors.
There is so much that could be said about the contrast between these two parties. The centurion said, “Please help,” and the people said, “Please go.” The centurion trusted Jesus to do the right thing, but the people who had lost livestock did not. The bottom line is that the more you trust Jesus to do the right thing, the more you will trust Him with everything.
What are you worried about today? The one thing about which you are worried today is the only thing that matters because it is the one thing for which you need to yield control to the Lord Jesus.
What if Jesus does something differently than you would wish? What if He does something differently than you would want? You can be sure that Jesus will do the right thing. There is more peace of heart, clearness of mind, and joy in life when you trust the Lord Jesus with everything because you trust Him to do the right thing.