Sunday, Feb. 21: Fill your lamps with oil!

Have you ever felt like you were in a hopeless situation? All of us have. It is part of life on this earth. Even Jesus found Himself in a situation that seemed to offer no way of escape. When Jesus felt the weight of the world dropping onto His shoulders, He went to His Father in prayer, and often, the place of that prayer was the Garden of Gethsemane, located in Jerusalem at the base of the Mount of Olives.
Jesus and His disciples spent much time in that garden, and were there the night before His crucifixion. In fact, it is where Judas brought the guards when he betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Jesus prayed three separate times that if it was the Father’s will, to let this cup pass from Him. Anticipating the events to come, our Lord sweated blood.


In the Bible, olive oil is emblematic of the Holy Spirit. We are to keep oil in our lamps to keep those lamps lit (Matthew 25). Even the process of making olive oil points to our Lord, as when the olive is crushed, the oil remains. When Jesus was crushed, beaten and bruised, He left the Holy Spirit in His place. We never should lose sight of what our Savior endured for us, accepting His Father’s will to suffer in our places by becoming a man, for God cannot suffer. Though the physical pain was great, it was the separation from His Father that pained Jesus the most. He didn’t just carry our sins, He became sin for us.


21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)


Part of the issue you are facing in that time of trial is faith. Do you truly believe what God has told you in His Word? If you do, then you will realize that every trial that He allows you into, He already has made two promises. You can handle the trial and there is a way of escape. Jesus prayed for a way of escape before He went to the cross. The fact that the Father did not offer a way of escape reminded Jesus, and should remind us, that there was no other way for us to have a relationship with the Father apart from the events of the cross. The Father loved Jesus so much, yet Isaiah 53 reminds us, “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him.” It pleased the Father for through that bruising, He opened the door for us to know His love.


If you find yourself in a troublesome situation and feel alone, know Jesus will join you in your Garden of Gethsemane. He will never leave you, nor forsake you. How much oil is in your lamp?