PRESSURE

Pressure. Pushing down on you, pressing down on me. No man asks for…

Under Pressure? Nobody asks for it but there isn’t a person on earth that doesn’t experience it and that is the truth. And along with that fact is also the corresponding problem of everyone looking for a solution to it. Some try to vacate by boat or by binges. Some try to meditate or medicate. Some push back in an attempt to alleviate it. Some prolong the pressure they are under by their resentment of it. I’ve even heard some Type A people say that they thrive in pressure situations, but you know what? Eventually they hit the wall and feel the pain of it. There is no denying pressure.

If we are honest, our first response to pressure is to want to get out from underneath it. That’s not wrong. God has promised rest for us! He is kind, gentle and good. Our Good Father is not expecting us to live every day under it. But let’s go back to my original statement: We all experience pressure- people who know Jesus and people who don’t. It is there for a season. It is a part of life.

Some pressure is self-inflicted. Wrong mindsets and bad choices will bring pressure. If we are willing, God is faithful to help us. He gives us wisdom and grace for these situations and changes our thinking so that we do not have to continue to live in the consequences we create.

But some pressure doesn’t make sense to us, like sickness, death, or even people who crush us. Jesus said that in this world we would have trouble and trouble makes pressure. But here is the good part. Because of free will, our Father can’t remove trouble from the earth, but He can use it to produce something beautiful in us, if we allow it.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins tells us what to do:

“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.

And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.

Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ “

What is the point of this story, you may be saying? The point is: Make oil. And here is how:

Oil can be made quickly with heat but most, if not all of the nutrients are lost in that process. The best way, the way still in use today, is to use pressure. In Biblical times, the olives, which are more than 25% oil by weight, were crushed by rolling a stone over them. Then, the pulp from the crushing was put into flat bags, Heavy stones were laid on top of the bags, or people trod on them to squeeze out the oil. The oil flowed through holes in the bags to a collecting cistern that was carved out of the rock and filled with water. The oil rose to the surface of the water and was collected and stored in pottery jars. *

The way I see it, pressure is a part of life and rolling stones go over us sometimes. Heavy weights come. And sometimes people trod on us. According to this parable, I can be wise or foolish about what happens next. The foolish people had no oil. What does that mean? I think Jesus answers that question for us in His comment to them, “I don’t know you.” He didn’t say “you don’t know Me.” Of course they knew Him. They had been waiting with everyone else for His arrival. They even had lamps! But they didn’t have oil and Jesus didn’t know them.

The only subject in this parable is oil and the only difference between the wise with oil and the foolish without it, is that Jesus knew those who had it and He didn’t know those who didn’t.

Oil is made by pressure and when we are under pressure, we are supposed to go to Jesus. My heart is aching for you to hear this right now. In fact, I really want to put caps-lock on to say it loud so you will hear me: Whatever trouble you are going through, whatever pressure is on you, bring yourself, whatever is crushed to Jesus. Bring Him your heart-pulp. Bring Him your questions and complaints. Bring Him your anger. Bring Him your tears. Let Jesus KNOW you. He has been in Gethsemane, the oil press. Blood was pressed from His brow. And in His agony, wanting another way, He brought His raw, honest self to His Father. Jesus gets you.

If you will open up to Him, the Holy Spirit will fill you. He is the water that will wash and mix and purify every ounce of what you give Him. This will allow the best oil, purified, to rise to the top of your life. Suddenly, there is an aroma that arises from you. Healing will come. Thankfulness will come. Worship will fill your jar and overflow from your life, lighting up your lamp with fire!

I know there are times when you want to push those heavy rocks off of your life and run. But if you do, will you have oil? Or maybe you are sitting under the weight of it all, angry, hardened to God and to the process. Cries are swallowed up by pride. Hurts fester under self-made bandages, never brought into the open to be healed. Pressure is a part of life. Can you now see the foolishness of withholding yourself from God, keeping your oil in, allowing it to internally rot?

I have always thought it a little rude that the people with oil didn’t share with those who didn’t have any, but now I know why. You can’t get your oil from other people. My oil isn’t your oil. While we all have pressures, my cries, my tears, my intimacy with Jesus makes my oil alone. And you too, have your own precious oil that can be made, if you are wise.

“There is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise; But a foolish man swallows it up.” (Proverbs 21:20).

*Information about oil pressing found from this site: www.israelolivebond.com/olive-oil/olive-oil-production/