Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life.

In the time it takes to get to work.

I'm Keith Simon.

I came across a book with an intriguing title.

The title was, I wish I'd been there.

And the book was written by several historians, each kind of writing a chapter about historical events they wish they'd been at. Some said, I'd wish I'd been there when Lincoln was shot, or I wish I'd been there at the Salem witch trials. The idea is that these moments in history were so powerful, so meaningful, or maybe just so exciting, that I wish I'd been there to take it all in. If a sports magazine

did something like this, they might say, I wish I'd been there when Jesse Owens won four gold

medals in front of Hitler in the 1936 Olympics. Or I wish I'd been there when Lou Gehrig gave his

farewell speech at Yankee Stadium after having been diagnosed with what was later called

Lou Gehrig's

disease. When you read the Bible, are there times when you find yourself saying, I wish I'd

been there? Well, there's probably a lot of those. But one of those for me is when Jesus heals the

man possessed by a legion of demons in Mark chapter 5. Here's how how it starts they went across the lake to the

region of garracines when jesus got out of the boat a man with an impure spirit came from the

tombs to meet him 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 with 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. As soon as Jesus and the disciples get out of the boat, here's this strange solitary figure approaching them. The man is bloodstain.

He's scarred naked. It's clear that he's a madman and he's rushing toward them. The description of

this man is one of the saddest descriptions of human wretchedness in the entire Bible. How do you deal with a man

who is a threat to himself and others? In those days, it would have been common for people

in the town to bind a man like this with chains. When the chains failed, they probably drove him

away into the hills to live among the tombs. This man is a picture of what sin wants to do to us.

First, sin hurts you. It's clear. It's destroying this man. And sin will destroy your life.

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