oil in jars

​Perhaps you’ve experienced occasions where a worship gathering, a prayer meeting, a devotional session, or a conversation with a mentor falls flat.  You may have been looking for some inspiration, encouragement, or advice, and it just didn’t “produce” at the time.  Though you know that we aren’t always “on” with Jesus and others, due to physical, emotional, spiritual, or relational circumstances, you’re still a little disappointed.

But then, sometime later, that worship song, or prayer request, or Bible verse, or word aptly spoken bears fruit.  Like the farmer who scatters the seed on the ground, waiting night and day for it to sprout and grow, when, one day, it finally does, “he knows not how” (Mark 4:27).  God has a way of storing up seeds of His Word and Spirit sown into us in one season which then come up before us fruitfully in the next. 

 We see this pattern in the parable of the ten virgins, friends of the bride who are waiting for her bridegroom to come.  They all went out with their lamps burning bright.  But when the bridegroom was delayed, it was those who brought oil in jars that continued to shine.  That oil in jars may be compared to those seeds of faith which we have stored up in our hearts in a way that sustains us through what Eugene Peterson called “a long obedience in the same direction”.  As we faithfully worship, pray, study, and listen for God’s Word and Spirit, day in a day out, we will not only find food for the present-day journey, but we will also have “stored up [God’s] Word in [our] hearts” (Psalm 119:11) so that we will be prepared both in-season and out-of-season to bring Glory to Him Who loves us so.