Clearing the Temple 5

Psalm 10:4

Every time we leave on a trip we go through the ritual of packing the van with all of our luggage – clothes, pillows, books, food, and on and on. Everything has to go in a certain way, the suitcases and boxes all fitting in an intricate pattern so that there is room for it all. If we don’t pack the van right we end up with something that won’t fit, and we risk not having all we need for our trip.

The same is true with our relationship with God. Our hearts and our minds, the things we desire and focus on, even the activities that we involve ourselves in only have so much room. We must fill our lives and our spirits with essential things and not allow other matters to push out what is important.

Psalm 10 makes an observation about attitudes. What does the psalmist say about the wicked person? Why does the wicked person not seek God?

We can sit in judgment of any person with the label of “wicked.” Surely a wicked person is one who causes hurt to others and is selfish in all ways. The wicked are not like us at all.

Or are they?

The psalmist explains that the wicked person does not seek God. Why not? Because of pride. The wicked person is so caught up in his own interests that he has no room in his thoughts for God.

Do those words describe us in any way? Do we allow our own interests and desires to crowd out God? It is so easy to get caught up in the business of work, spending time with friends and family, or watching all your favorite programs that you don’t have any room left for God.

We need to learn how to pack our hearts and minds with the right things so that we can be in a deep and rewarding relationship with our God. But before we do that we may need to clean out all the clutter that we have allowed to gather in our lives. We may need to clear a space in our hearts so that there is room enough for God.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can you make more room for God in your life?

The Crowd 1

Zechariah 9:9-10

Saturday afternoon I got totally sucked into watching a show on The History Channel called "Bible Battles" that traced many of the battles of the Old Testament and where and how they were fought. It put one thing into perspective for me for sure! That for at least 1000 years before Jesus was born the Israelites had been either at war with neighboring tribes or among themselves or enslaved to someone else.

Today's reading is a prophecy of the king who will come and bring peace. This portion of Zechariah was probably written about 300 years before Jesus. So for all this time, this promise was held up to the Jews. A conqueror would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey and eradicate their enemies from the land.

That's what the crowd was expecting that day in Jerusalem when Jesus fulfilled this portion of prophecy. The king did arrive, riding on a donkey and bringing salvation, but not in the way the crowd would have expected it.

How often are we like that? Our whole lives can seem like a battlefield sometimes with stress and frustration at every turn. And how we would run out to see someone who promised to take it all away and make our world peaceful in every way.

But what happens when things don't go the way we expect? Will we stay committed? That's the question we'll be addressing this week.

DAILY CHALLENGE: When we are tired and stressed do we let God work how he wants or do we turn away when the answer is not what we thought it would be?