The tables He flipped

 “Stop trying to sit at the tables Jesus flipped.”

 

I saw this saying on a friend’s social media page, and it really spoke to me. Here is what I saw once I unpacked this phrase. 

 

¹² And Jesus entered the temple of God^[a] and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. ¹³ He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you make it a den of robbers.”

-Matthew 21:12-13

 

Do you not know that your body is a temple^* of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

 

In the first verse, Jesus cleansed the temple of the money changers and other merchants. (Perhaps symbolizing greed and all things unholy) This sets somewhat of a precedent for what activities and behaviors should be allowed to exist in God’s temple. 

            Then, in 1 Corinthians, Paul writes about how the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. So. If our body is also God’s temple, what does this say about how we should act in regard to our bodies? 

            This hearkens to the Theology of the Body, a series of Sunday audiences written by St. Pope John Paul II. In it he presents an ‘integrate vision of th4 human person.’ “The human body has a specific meaning making visible an invisible reality and is capable of revealing answers regarding fundamental questions about us and our lives.” ¹  

            Another thing I saw, is that once Jesus flipped the tables, people were unable to sit there anymore. When Jesus flips tables in your life, quit trying to go back and sit where there isn’t a seat. He has His reasons for flipping the table, closing the door, creating new opportunities. Instead of trying to sit at a flipped over table, let Him lead you to the seat where he wants you to sit! 

 ¹ http://www.theologyofthebody.net

 

 

 

Psalm 139:13

“You formed my inmost being;

you knit me in my mother’s womb.”

Inmost being. Anyone can see our outside, but he knows 

us intimately, to the core of us, at the deepest level. 

Nothing about us or done by us is hidden from Him. Neither 

past, present, nor future. 

Knitting - not just assembling - takes a lot of skill, 

and fore knowledge. You can’t just knit a shirt without a pattern 

or prior planning etc. 

In my mother’s womb - 

When there is a baby, there isn’t room for much else in the 

womb. Yet He is still there. In the smallest, biggest,

 farthest places. 

He is our Hope in Sorrow

  

My mom’s mother, my grandmother, was welcomed home in heaven Sunday morning. What a reunion it must have been, with all her deceased siblings, parents, and friends! I am very sad at her passing, but I rejoice that she is no longer suffering, but is in her eternal body that knows no pain. As we said our final goodbyes, there was prayer, worship, and hugs.

As we said goodbye, I was filled with wonderful memories of my grandma. Of the dresses and Halloween costumes she sewed for me. Of the dinners shared. Of birthdays celebrated. And mostly of the love shared.

Her death has made me question the legacy I want to leave one day. Is it a legacy of love? What sort of memories? Going even further into my questioning, What lessons to I want to teach others with my life? What kind of example do I want to be? Heavy questions, but God can handle heavy questions. He’s one big God.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn^* the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

John 3:16-17

Through Jesus, we find our hope, so that when a loved one dies, ne needn’t despair. As she passed, the tears came. And as the tears came, hope in Christ dried them up.

I challenge you, dear reader, to live your life with this hope. Make your decisions with this in mind, that your hope is in Christ, your life, breath, and being. All you have and all you are is in Him. Act as such and place your trust in Him.

Then the LORD will guide you always

and satisfy your thirst in parched places,

will give strength to your bones

And you shall be like a watered garden,

like a flowing spring whose waters never fail

-Isaiah 58:11

I don't know if any of you know (and I hope you don't), but usually when you prepare for having surgery, there is a certain amount of time that you are required to be NPO, without food/liquid, since you'll be intubated while the surgery proceeds. Since I've been through four surgeries in recent years, I'm all too familiar with the NPO requirements. Trust me, its no fun. 

However, also, many times as I prepared for surgery, there was fear too. These are two elements that are addressed in this verse. The Lord promises to guide us (we can trust him!) and in the parched places He is always there. Even in the spiritually dry places when it feels that He has abandoned us-He really hasn't. He's there. 

I wish I had had this insight on His promise going into surgery, but I had one other thing. I printed out every verse that reads"do not fear" and took them into surgery with me. I read them as I was falling asleep. They brought me so much peace. 

S, this week, let God guide you and satisfy the areas in your life that are parched and need his touch and his water. 

God Bless you! 

Then Job arose and tore his cloak and cut off his hair. He fell to the ground and worshiped. He said, “Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I go back there.  The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD! ”In all this Job did not sin, nor did he charge God with wrong.

    -Job 1: 20-22

         Prior to this verse, in the book of Job, Sabeans have just come and carried off Job’s oxen and donkeys, as well as killing all by one servant.

I don’t know about you, but this would have put me in a really really bad mood, along with being mad at God. It is mentioned that Job is ‘blameless and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil.’ This, dear friend, is the problem of evil, addressed by C.S. Lewis and many other authors over the years. Many people are quick to state that because evil exists, then an omnipotent, all good God cannot.

         However, God has given man free will, and will never take away our free will. There is also evil in this world. So where there is evil and free will, man can use the two to make bad/evil choices. Thus the situation here in Job.

         What I absolutely love in this part of Job, is the very end of this verse. After Job had gone through these trials (and would go through more), he still does not curse God – he BLESSES the name of the Lord.

         I’ve gone through difficult medical trials, and I know how difficult it is to want to blame God and do the , “ if you loved me you would fix this” – But instead, Job BLESSES the name of God. Instead of allowing the trials to pull him further from God, as the satan expects ( and wants) Job pulls closer to God.

         So, reflecting on this, I pray that we may draw closer to God, praising Him through the trials, tribulations, and blessing. We cannot just praise through the easy times; we need to praise Him through everything Life offers us. We are given the opportunity to praise him EVERY DAY. Wake up, open your eyes? – I Praise you Lord. Spill coffee on your shirt? – I praise you Lord. Long meeting in work? I praise you Lord. Get the gist? Keep on praising!

Romans 12:11-12


Do not grow slack in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.

Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer.

-Romans 12:11-12

I think that many of us go through periods of spiritual highs and lows, where we can feel very zealous and close to God, but then through time of feeling far and disconnected from Him. Looking at the definition for zeal can help to open up this verse.

Zeal:

Noun

1.   Great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective

We are called to serve the Lord and not grow slack in our enthusiasm for serving Him. That is my prayer for today, that He would make my heart be on fire for Him and be zealous about following his word.