JESUS FLIPPED THE TABLES

This is a long one, so bear with me. I won’t lie and say I didn’t get emotional typing this one.

There’s just something about this story in Mark 11 that gets to me. I’ve read it multiple times over the past few weeks, and it still never ceases to grasp my heart.

Jesus walks into the temple, this place meant for prayer, worship, and God’s presence, and what does He find?

Noise. Distraction. Self-interest. People going through the motions but missing the point.

This is a topic I’ve already posted on once before, and I’ll link it here: More Than Just Saying His Name
Claiming His name isn’t a costume, and if we wear His name, we better let Him change our hearts, not just our Sunday behavior.

So, anyway - back to Jesus flipping these tables:

“He began to drive out those who were buying and selling there… ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”
— Mark 11:15-17

He didn’t come in with soft words. He came in with holy fire. *insert clapping hands for emphasis*

Why? Because worship had become a show.

They weren’t coming to be with God, they were coming to look spiritual. They were saying the right things, but their hearts were far off. And if I’m honest… that hits home.

“Do not trust in deceptive words and say, ‘This is the temple of the Lord…’ if you do not act justly…”
— Jeremiah 7:4-5 (paraphrased)

God spoke the same message through the prophet Jeremiah:
Stop talking about worship — and start living it.

So here’s the hard question:

Am I going to church for God — or just to feel better about myself?

Is it a routine? A checklist? Or do I walk in expecting to meet with the living God — and leave changed?

Because worship isn’t just about singing the right songs or posting the right verses. It’s about surrender. It’s about letting Jesus flip the tables in my heart — not just somebody else’s.

And truthfully, this is something I have been struggling with lately. Because I have always been hardheaded. I have always been the one to become the leader in any given situation, not be lead. So, learning to stop inserting myself and to just let God lead me has been so hard. Learning to want God to lead me has been a struggle because I want to be the one to lead. But I also want others to be led to God because of my testimony. So, I need to be patient and wait for God’s hand.

Lately, I’ve visited three different churches: Colquitt Assembly of God, Mt. Olive Baptist, and Union Baptist. All three of these have felt like home. But I don’t want to walk into these churches and walk out with the same mindset before I went in.

The past few months, I have been so bitter and angry, and even though I know why I am angry at others, I know that I have been more angry at myself because I have felt like an utter failure of living by God’s word. I am trying to let go and let God — but sometimes that’s hard to do. But I know that when I go into church, I feel a genuine connection and just this wild feeling that I am where I need to be.

I want Jesus to flip the tables for me, especially if I am ever walking into church just to say I went. I want Jesus to flip the tables for me, especially if I am using my platform to gain attention and not to share His glory with others and to share my testimony and for what He has done in my life.

Psalms 69: 7-9 “For zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.”

Jesus wasn’t flipping tables just to make a scene. He was fighting for the purity of worship. He was fighting for God’s presence to be taken seriously.

And I have to ask myself: Am I willing to change my actions — or am I just saying the right words?

This question stopped me this morning while I was doing my daily studies. Am I willing to change my actions? Or am I just saying the right words? Am I just saying it to make it seem like I am changing?

I had this conversation with my husband a few days ago. We were on the way to Dothan, AL and we were discussing my feelings of anger, betrayal, and bitterness. And he asked me if my reading the Bible was actually helping me or am I just reading it and posting that I’m reading it?

I know in my heart, I am doing this as a testimony. I know that I was at work one night and I told my co-worker that I felt like I needed to write a devotional to help other women. I had this overwhelming sense that I needed to tell my story, and help guide others down the same path.

I told my husband the same thing. I also told him that I don’t want to be angry - I don’t want to feel bitter. So many hurtful things have been said and done to us over the past 2 years, and I’m to the point where I just don’t want to deal with certain people anymore.

But that’s where it starts, isn’t it? It starts with knowing where the tables need to be flipped in order to clean house and turn back to God. Because carrying bitterness and anger into church with me and not leaving it with God isn’t going to change me. I’ve been slowly cleaning off these tables since I started publishing this blog… but after today, I just need Jesus to come flip them over for me.

Lord, start with me.
If there’s anything in me that’s turned worship into performance… If I’ve been more worried about appearances than obedience… If I’ve just been playing “church” instead of pursuing You…Flip those tables. Clean house. Draw me close again. Help me let go of what is holding my down so that I can pursue you with my whole heart, and not just broken pieces.
Heal my broken heart and help me forgive those who have hurt me. Help me flip the tables inside my own heart.
Amen

Friend, this isn’t a message of shame; it’s an invitation. An invitation to come back to real worship.
Not perfect.
Not polished.
But true.
Sincere.
Holy.

Let’s be people who don’t just say His name…Let’s live like we know Him.

Let’s show others kindness and mercy and give forgiveness freely.

Because we all need our tables flipped at some point.