You want us to be humble so that we can rely on you. You want to love us and bless us. No matter how we feel right now you want to exult us in due time. You don't want us dealing with any worries all alone. You want us to cast all our cares upon you.
You want to restore, confirm, strengthen and establish us after we've suffered. But the Devil is prowling around us. He is trying to get us to take our eyes off of the God of all grace. He is trying to trick us into feeling alone and to not realizing that others are undergoing the same sufferings. He wants us to wrest control back from Jesus into our hands. Humility is the antidote. It is how we stay vigilant.
The Devil says that we are alone in a suffering that no one else knows. He tells us that God must not care or we would never suffer. But God allows us to be tested. He wants to refine our faith so that we can trust in him no matter what we see or feel. Our faith is more precious than fire-tried gold (cf. 1 Pet. 1:7). God disciplines us as his beloved children so that we can mature (cf. Heb. 12:6). He makes any suffering work for our good (cf. Rom. 8:28). We would prefer to not suffer. But in this fallen world we can only show our trust in you through challenges like this. And having this trust is worth it. It opens us to all of your blessings.
When we trust in you and stay humble about our own abilities and our own rights we ourselves become a lion that the devil fears. Saint Mark himself is known as a lion (cf. Rev. 4:6-9) because he trusts in you and makes you the center of his life. He knows that the only thing that really matters is to believe in you for salvation. He dedicates himself to proclaim the Gospel to every creature because he knows how much we all need it. And he doesn't trust in himself or his own ability to proclaim it.
These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.
Even though Mark endures persecution for the sake of this message it doesn't slow him down. He is humble and trusts and you to bring great things even from pain and suffering. Because he endures the trials he experiences the triumph.
Blessed the people who know the joyful shout;
in the light of your countenance, O LORD, they walk.
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