Isaiah 62:1-12 (can be found here: http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=98145047)
It is a horrible thing to declare your faith in God and to live In trust yet experience times of desolation and emptiness. If God calls us at times to make sacrifices and our life style choices in faith mean that we go without things at times, it is hard to hear the taunts of those who want to reject God from their prosperity.
It must have been so difficult for the people of Israel in exile to look at their situation and reconcile it with their faith. In the voice of the prophets they do this. They see judgment in the way they have had to endure the consequences of their own actions. They have seen hope in the consistency of God that the nations around them will have to go through the same trials as they continue to live in unfair societies that reject God. And most importantly they feel hope in the unchaining love of God that always looks for a way to restore the relationship and move his people to a new level of understanding.
Even in the face of the taunts of their enemies and the poverty and their lives faith in the promises of God and His nature provides the possibility of making sense of the situation and embracing the choice to believe.
John 2:13-25 (Can be found here: http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=98145237)
Yesterday the reading from Luke's gospel described a young boy of 12 sitting and talking about 'His Father's House'.
Today's reading shows Jesus 20 years on showing his spiritual authority in this same place. His wrath is not directed towards those who are worshipping but those who have shifted the purpose and focus of the purpose of the temple. The temple is already being destroyed by its absorption in to the trading life of the world. It is becoming a marketplace and a political power base. Rather than being a place where God is accessible, a focus for prayer and a place of presence, it is a becoming a place where the hunger the people have to know God is exploited for political and financial gain.
Jesus words show that the way we come to God is going to change. Jesus is the new temple, the place of presence and through the Holy Spirit those who want to will be 'in Christ' through the Spirit. God is with us - not just among us the once in Christ; also among and within through the Holy Spirit.
Thoughts
God does act and is present in all our situations. It may feel at times that everything is corrupt and that there is no goodness to be found. It may feel that God is absent and that those who live without reference to Him seem to avoid all consequence to their actions.
But neither of these two feelings are based on what is actually happening.In our prayers we can gain a higher perspective that leads to hope and again recognises that God is within and that that can never be corrupted or lost.
It is a horrible thing to declare your faith in God and to live In trust yet experience times of desolation and emptiness. If God calls us at times to make sacrifices and our life style choices in faith mean that we go without things at times, it is hard to hear the taunts of those who want to reject God from their prosperity.
It must have been so difficult for the people of Israel in exile to look at their situation and reconcile it with their faith. In the voice of the prophets they do this. They see judgment in the way they have had to endure the consequences of their own actions. They have seen hope in the consistency of God that the nations around them will have to go through the same trials as they continue to live in unfair societies that reject God. And most importantly they feel hope in the unchaining love of God that always looks for a way to restore the relationship and move his people to a new level of understanding.
Even in the face of the taunts of their enemies and the poverty and their lives faith in the promises of God and His nature provides the possibility of making sense of the situation and embracing the choice to believe.
John 2:13-25 (Can be found here: http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=98145237)
Yesterday the reading from Luke's gospel described a young boy of 12 sitting and talking about 'His Father's House'.
Today's reading shows Jesus 20 years on showing his spiritual authority in this same place. His wrath is not directed towards those who are worshipping but those who have shifted the purpose and focus of the purpose of the temple. The temple is already being destroyed by its absorption in to the trading life of the world. It is becoming a marketplace and a political power base. Rather than being a place where God is accessible, a focus for prayer and a place of presence, it is a becoming a place where the hunger the people have to know God is exploited for political and financial gain.
Jesus words show that the way we come to God is going to change. Jesus is the new temple, the place of presence and through the Holy Spirit those who want to will be 'in Christ' through the Spirit. God is with us - not just among us the once in Christ; also among and within through the Holy Spirit.
Thoughts
God does act and is present in all our situations. It may feel at times that everything is corrupt and that there is no goodness to be found. It may feel that God is absent and that those who live without reference to Him seem to avoid all consequence to their actions.
But neither of these two feelings are based on what is actually happening.In our prayers we can gain a higher perspective that leads to hope and again recognises that God is within and that that can never be corrupted or lost.
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