Have you ever been in one of those moments when, unexpectedly, the tide turns, good news suddenly appears, or the thing you were praying for actually comes to pass? We like to think we’re in faith all the time, but the truth is, we’re not — in fact, sometimes we’re caught by surprise and our only response is, “Wow, that was God–”

I think God likes to surprise us in ways we’re not expecting. And one of my favorite illustrations of this is found in the first chapter of Mark’s gospel.

The Bible says, “Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath [Jesus] entered the synagogue and taught. And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Mark 1:21-22).

The first thing we need to understand is that a scribe was someone whose job was to make copies of the law. So you can imagine if all you did everyday was write the scriptures over and over, you would naturally “know” the scriptures. But this doesn’t mean you had to believe them or live them just because you could quote them. This explains why perhaps the people were astonished at the way Jesus taught — “as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”

In other words, there was believable power in His words.

“Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, saying, ‘Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth?…’” (verses 23-24a).

Consider this scenario:

Jesus is preaching in the synagogue and a demon-possessed man became agitated by His words. The impression is that this man had never been bothered before by the mundane babble of the scribes– But Jesus of Nazareth… bothered the demon-possessed man. So with a loud voice, he cried out, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are — the Holy One of God!” (verse 24).

The demon-possessed man was first only looking at the natural. He correctly called Him “Jesus of Nazareth” which was the same as calling a person by their first and last name. The man was looking on the outside, and then he remembered God’s words in the garden.

Centuries before, when sin entered the Garden of Eden and God discovered Satan’s scheme, He said to him, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 1:15). From that day forward, darkness knew God would keep His word. The devil didn’t know how. And he didn’t know when. But certainly he and all his demons knew God doesn’t lie and in time, He will do what He said.

Lightbulb moment

The demon-possessed man thought he was talking to a mere human (Jesus of Nazareth), when suddenly the light bulb goes on, and centuries of waiting abruptly ended. “I know who You are — the Holy One of God!”

The Bible says Jesus immediately rebuked him and when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him (verses 25-26).

But that wasn’t quite the end of the story. “At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because [NOW] they knew Him” (Mark 1:32-24, my emphasis).

Heaven and earth didn’t have to wonder any more. The waiting was over. Darkness was taken by surprise and all they could say was, “That was God!”

And I’m here to remind you God is still in the business of surprising Hell! He loves to show up in the middle of chaos and turn the light of revelation on! And in a great move, Jesus said in Luke 10:19, “Look, I have given you the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy; nothing at all will harm you.” In other words, the same authority that startled those in the synagogue the day Jesus spoke, is the same authority you and I carry today.

So be expecting. Use your authority in Jesus’ name. And watch your God show up in unexpected ways to scatter the darkness!