Saturday night was Christmas Eve, the end of the Advent
Journal, and the beginning
of Chanukah. Though I am not Jewish, I love celebrating the feast and
festivals, because they speak to the person, ministry, and work of our beloved
Savior. I wrote to you on Saturday, that I will, to follow along with the Chanukah
story, reflect each night on the great things the Lord has done for me. How
what is impossible for me, God in His Grace and Mercy performs on my behalf. The
Chanukah story tells of a miraculous story; sometimes though, my life can be a
little less spectacular.
The Israelites found only enough oil for one day, when they
were dedicating the temple anew, but God caused it to burn for eight days. They
only found enough for one day, even though they knew it would not be enough,
they lit it anyway. If the lampstand burned for only one day, then it’s one day;
better than not burning at all. They lit it anyway. It is okay if you
didn’t find anything spectacular in these last few days, we don’t need to
create anything, or over sensationalize small things to make them look big. God
doesn’t need our help to prove Himself miraculous.
I love that they lit the lampstand anyway. That keeps glaring
me in the face, because oil in the Bible is very symbolic. The Israelites were
instructed in the constructing of the
Tabernacle, to bring pure Olive Oil, beaten for the light {see Ex. 25:6;
27:20; 35:14, 28 and Lev. 24:1-4}. Jesus was the fruit of the olive tree {Rom. II}
beaten and pressed for us in Gethsemane and He was beaten, bruised, and died a
torturous death for us on Calvary. The Oil also represents the Holy Spirit; He
fills us with power to be lights and witnesses. The oil was to burn continuously
in God’s Temple; it was a sign that He dwelt there. Just like the loaves
and the fishes, He took what little
they brought and He multiplied their faithful, obedient offering. What if this
is what God does for us? Maybe your story over the past few days of the
Festival of Lights, is one of God’s sustaining oil, burning longer than you can
muster on your own?
I began the Advent Journal so that I would nurture and
cultivate a thanksgiving
theology; to become more grateful to the Lord for all that He has done for
me, and all that He will do. It is my worship
and gratefulness that brings Joy.
But life can be hard; suffering and pain seems to surround us, and it can be
hard to praise God in the midst of so much hurt and pain. Sometimes our
hallelujahs are broken. Not broken in that we don’t offer them, but that we
offer them even in our brokenness.
I am flabbergasted that I am staring 2017 in the face; I
have prayed and confessed to the Lord that I need a New Year. What if during
this beautiful Festival of Lights, we set our eyes on our Light of the World,
Jesus Christ, and bring whatever oil we can find each day, deep down inside,
and offer it to Him as a sweet-smelling fragrance, and believe Him to ignite a
new fire in us that burns for Him—hotter than we have ever known. What if we
rededicate our temple {1
Cor. 6:19-20} and bring the oil—even if it is only enough for today? He
will be faithful with our offering. I pray that you bring yourself to Him with
all the oil you can muster. That He will fill you to overflowing, so that we
will not be ill prepared and found
asleep when He returns, but that we will be about His Kingdom and that we
will burn bright for the world to see.
