I listened to a really amazing podcast a while back by Steven Furtick of Elevation church. He talked about a verse in Exodus, and I can’t stop thinking about it.
“You shall command the people of Israel that they bring to you pure beaten olive oil for the light, that a lamp may regularly be set up to burn. In the tent of meeting, outside the veil that is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening to morning before the Lord. It shall be a statute forever to be observed throughout their generations by the people of Israel.” –Exodus 27:20-21
These are a part of instructions for the Israelites from the Lord, showing them a new way to live.
They are set free and now need to learn how to live in freedom.
It’s a funny thing, how once you’re free, after the hard, long, sometimes-crazy process of getting to the point of freedom, you have to then re-learn life.
For me, I see it best with the analogy my friend Marielle shared with me. For so long you carry around a heavy suitcase. It’s a burden, chains that hold you in bondage. You lean to one side as it weighs you down. And once the suitcase is gone and you’re free, you have to regain your balance because you’re so used to leaning to one side. All you’ve known is holding that heavy suitcase.
For far too long, I carried a really damn heavy suitcase full of shame.
But now I am free, pure, and sparkling!!!
How did I get to the point of freedom?
You see, God is asking the Israelites to bring pure, beaten olive oil.
Looking at other versions of this verse, you can combine them to get: pure, clear oil from beaten and pressed olives. The way to get pure and clear oil is to beat and press the olives.
Sounds really important, like some good oil, if you ask me. And God wants the oil to be set up to burn continually, evening through morning. It’s gotta be good oil.
Because the light/flame is only as good as the oil you bring.
We want to light the best fires for God, don’t we? Therefore, we have to bring the best oil. Pure. Clear. And to get that, we need to be pressed and beaten.
Sometimes, God has to press us to produce the best oil possible.
This pressing is by hand, which takes longer, but the oil is so much more pure when it goes through this process.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9 says that we are pressed but not crushed. God won’t crush us. There have been times in my life that I felt so pressed, beaten, and totally wrecked. But I was never crushed so much that it was the end. God redeems. I’m always under His hand and never have to worry that I’ll be crushed. He’s the one that’s pressing, and His hand is so good.
What’s precious must be pressed out. How does God see precious parts of me, even when I feel dirty, ashamed, and worthless? He still sees purity, and so He presses, going for the precious, pure, pretty parts.
Once the olives are pressed, they are put in a basket and left to drip. The oil would drip from the bottom of the basket, and it would be collected. They take the pulp from the baskets (it’s not useful) and remove it from the precious oil. What is left, the oil that dripped down, was what they would use to put into the lamp! It is pure, clear, precious oil.
I was pressed here in Guatemala. God had me press in some really hard parts of my life that I had kept hidden. I didn’t want to look at those olives, let alone find the good in them. I didn’t want to press into them at all. I wanted them to stay locked in the suitcase of shame that I held.
But God wanted me to press to freedom. He saw the precious. He saw what was worth pressing. And then, He pressed. And through that process, pure oil came out. And I was left white as snow.
I prayed with Kellie, crying out to God, and pictured Him handing me a white dress. It’s the same white dress He’s offered me so many times before. It’s the one I had refused over and over again. But this time, I accepted. I grabbed it and put it on. The wildest thing- earlier that day, Angela and I had stopped at a random boutique. There were dozens of white dresses. How random?! But during this time of prayer and pressing, I felt like I needed to go buy one of those dresses! To once and for all put it on and totally live in the freedom and purity that He has given me. Putting on that dress means chucking that suitcase so far, and never picking it up again. It means being able to light a better fire in my heart for God!
And so I got the dress! Here is it. White as snow. Spotless. Lovely. Clean. Perfect. Precious. Pure.
I want to encourage others to pray and ask the Lord what is keeping your oil from being it’s purest form. Is there anything that needs to be pressed out of you? Anything you’ve been holding for far too long that is keeping your flame from burning the brightest. Let God start the pressing process. Because the clear oil is worth it. Purity is so worth it. Bringing good oil to Him is worth it. He is so worth it. He’s so good.
