Matthew 21-22

October 18

Matthew 21-22

"“It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ‘den of robbers.’”" (Matthew 21:13, NIV)

 

Back in Isaiah, God said that his house “would be called a house of prayer for all nations.” The temple was not just for the Israelites, God was reaching out to Gentiles as well as Jews. The Jewish religious leaders created obstacles for the Gentiles, some purposely others as a result of other decisions they had made over the years. In the temple area that was designated for Gentiles to come and worship, merchants set up tables to buy and sell goods needed for worship. The noise of the animals and the bartering created an environment that was anything but prayerful. When Jesus came into Jerusalem, He went to the temple and turned over the tables of the merchants and proclaimed that the temple was to be a “house of prayer.”

 

The world we live in is busy and noisy. It is difficult to find a quiet place to spend time in prayer, but that is God’s desire for us. Sometimes the “noise” is inside of us. Our brains jump from subject to subject as we attempt to quiet before God. We think about what we need to do or where we need to go later in the day. Quiet is so hard to find, when we find that time, our brains begin to process all the inputs they have received since our last quiet time. But God wants us to come at a time when we can speak and listen to Him. We are each a house of prayer, we must defend against allowing the busyness of the world constantly attempting to encroach on that aspect of our lives.