Lent is supposed to be a season that draws us closer to God. Through sacrifice, we should learn to depend more on God for the things of our lives. The idea is that when we have a desire to do the thing we are abstaining from, we are to pray instead. While any time spent in prayer is a good thing, we should focus more on the prayer and less on the sacrifice; allowing our bodies to become “houses of prayer”. That is how Jesus described the Temple, as a house of prayer. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and as such, they to should be “Houses of prayer”! Being Zealous for God For the director of music. To the tune of “Lilies.” Of David. “1 Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. 2 I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me. 3 I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God. 4 Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head; many are my enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me. I am forced to restore what I did not steal. 5 You, God, know my folly; my guilt is not hidden from you. 6 Lord, the LORD Almighty, may those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me; God of Israel, may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me. 7 For I endure scorn for your sake, and shame covers my face. 8 I am a foreigner to my own family, a stranger to my own mother’s children; 9 for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me. 10 When I weep and fast, I must endure scorn; 11 when I put on sackcloth, people make sport of me. 12 Those who sit at the gate mock me, and I am the song of the drunkards. 13 But I pray to you, LORD, in the time of your favor; in your great love, O God, answer me with your sure salvation. 14 Rescue me from the mire, do not let me sink; deliver me from those who hate me, from the deep waters. 15 Do not let the floodwaters engulf me or the depths swallow me up or the pit close its mouth over me. 16 Answer me, LORD, out of the goodness of your love; in your great mercy turn to me. 17 Do not hide your face from your servant; answer me quickly, for I am in trouble. 18 Come near and rescue me; deliver me because of my foes. 19 You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed; all my enemies are before you. 20 Scorn has broken my heart and has left me helpless; I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found none. 21 They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst. 22 May the table set before them become a snare; may it become retribution and a trap. 23 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever. 24 Pour out your wrath on them; let your fierce anger overtake them. 25 May their place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in their tents. 26 For they persecute those you wound and talk about the pain of those you hurt. 27 Charge them with crime upon crime; do not let them share in your salvation. 28 May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous. 29 But as for me, afflicted and in pain— may your salvation, God, protect me. 30 I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. 31 This will please the LORD more than an ox, more than a bull with its horns and hooves. 32 The poor will see and be glad— you who seek God, may your hearts live! 33 The LORD hears the needy and does not despise his captive people. 34 Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and all that move in them, 35 for God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah. Then people will settle there and possess it; 36 the children of his servants will inherit it, and those who love his name will dwell there.” (Psalm 69) David wrote this beautiful Psalm as a plea for God to save Him from him from those who persecuted him. It is also a prophetic Psalm in that it speaks of the torment and persecution that Jesus would go through. We can almost hear Jesus speaking these same words as He ministered to the lost and spoke out against the self-righteous leaders of the day. John spoke of Jesus clearing the temple of the money changers in John 2 “13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” (John 2:13-17) Jesus was angry because His Fathers temple had been to market cattle, sheep and doves for the offerings and sacrifices by the people instead of the house of prayer that it was intended to be. That David was zealous for God is evident in this Psalm. Jesus was also zealous for the things of God and as His devotion was foretold in this Psalm; the prophetic verses were fulfilled by Jesus. We are reminded by both David and Jesus that our individual houses of prayer must be set apart so that they too can give honor and glory to God. Our bodies are the “temple” of the Holy Spirit “19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) Because our bodies are His temple; we must not desecrate them by the pursuit of worldly things. We must instead; consecrate them for the purpose for which God created it. How zealously do we guard our temple; our house of prayer? Is it consecrated for the glory of God? Do we use it for worldly pleasures and lustful pursuits instead of as a place of prayer and worship? We must ask ourselves these questions and prayerfully consider the answers. If we are found lacking, then today is a fine day to restore our temple! In Christ, John
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 16:44:27 +0000
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