The Crushing and The Oil
A Devotional: Fuel for Enduring Adversity
If you are in a season where you feel like you are being crushed from every side, it is hard to feel much more than pain and overwhelm... There’s intensity, tears, desperation, and so many feelings— anxiety, anger, loneliness, just to name a few. It’s all real.
As we walk through these seasons of trouble and hardship, there is a profound invitation awaiting us to be joined to Jesus in the fellowship of His suffering. We are joined to Him when we include Him in the secret, painful dialogues of our exposed heart and mind, when we confess those feelings, those thoughts and release them all to Him. We are joined to Him when we cry out to Him to carry us through the hardest, darkest nights. We are joined to Him when we come under His story, position ourselves within His faithfulness and from that place press on in faith for our own lives. He is our Great High Priest who lives now to pray for us (Hebrews 7:25). He is our dearest friend who has gone before us, enduring every area of pain, struggle and weakness, and now wants to walk closely with us through every part of our difficult seasons, including the raw and messy parts.
When we choose to set even our weakest attention and devotion before Him and position our hearts open and vulnerable through those seasons of crushing, there is something beautiful that is poured forth from our lives…. It’s oil. Oil is released from our lives when we are crushed and yet press into Him, even ever so weakly, as we are hard-pressed from every side. By letting Him in to our feelings and our thoughts, by choosing gratitude, and by ultimately declaring HIS GOODNESS regardless of our life circumstance, our spiritual lives produce oil that carries a fragrance that moves the heart of God in a significant way that can’t be replicated through any other season. “Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.” John 12:3 NKJV. In the same way that Mary poured her love out at the feet of Jesus with her literal oil, we too pour our love out on Him with the oil from our lives and this unwavering devotion.
I want you to imagine this scene: The Father and Jesus look down with boundless love to see their daughter (or son) walking in the midst of crisis, crying out with questions, tears and heartache, and yet still choosing to declare the goodness of God. Her willingness to press in through the hardship, to stay tender, to be real and to cry out with an open heart through the midst of uncertainty and pain is BEAUTIFUL! Jesus exclaims to the Father, “Look! Look at the way she’s loving us even despite the suffering she’s walking through! She is so beautiful! I love the way she loves me! I love her! I see her! I can’t wait for her to really know that I see her and to know that I was right there with her through it all! I’m so proud of her! I can’t wait to honor her, to reward her, to bless her!”
When I pour the oil of my life out on Him through obedience, devotion, and faithfulness, He in turn pours out His oil on me in the form of freedom, gladness, and deeper access into His heart. It’s a beautiful exchange. Isaiah 61:3 says, “To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.” The fragrant oil released from these seasons of life will lead to greater intimacy and authority if we open our hearts to Him and allow Him to pull us into Himself and out of any spirit of offense.
I know it is easy to become bitter, hard-hearted, and resentful over time when we walk through dark seasons because we feel forgotten, alone, and abandoned. I’ve been there, but Jesus is so ready to receive all of this— our bitterness, hardened heart and resentfulness and exchange it for tenderness, comfort, and strength. “For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share in comfort too.” 2 Corinthians 1:5 ESV. HE IS WITH US! But the suffering is not the end of the story! It is through the journey of suffering and fixing our eyes on Jesus that we are led to experience true resurrection power, made alive on the inside and ushered into His promises over our lives.
If you are walking through a season of crushing, I invite you to position your heart before Jesus today and spend some time doing the following exercise. Journal or just pray, whatever is comfortable for you…
Begin with gratitude. What do you have to be thankful for? Be creative and make a list.
Transition to a time of repentance. Confess and release your feelings of disappointment, your pain, your heartache, your anger, your questions regarding whatever your circumstance involves.
Linger here and invite the Holy Spirit in to do what only He knows you need Him to do. Do you need Him to soften your heart? Do you need Him to connect you to Jesus? Do you need Him to comfort you? What do you need? Tell Him and wait on Him to meet you.
Declare the goodness of God in the midst of your circumstance. Whether you feel it or not in this season, He is good! Declare it with your mouth in faith that your heart will eventually believe it too.
Pray and meditate on the scriptures included in this devotional and any others that the Holy Spirit leads you to: Hebrews 7:25, John 12:3, Isaiah 61:3, and 2 Corinthians 1:5.
May God bless you in this time!
