At the end of 2020, I had this notion of pairing wine and oil together as gift for Christmas. Along with this pairing, I wrote to those receiving the gift, “This year, 2020, has been one of testing with incredible highs and lows. It is as if everything that could be shaken was being shaken. Yet, The Kingdom of God still stands. Hallelujah! Praise be to God !! It is also as if the world itself is being pressed, nations are being pressed (Israel, USA, etc.). States are being pressed, The Church is being pressed and we are being pressed. Having been in Israel last December, in the Garden of Gethsemane and at the Garden Tomb, where an unused wine press is present, I couldn’t think of better gifts this year. In the Garden of Gethsemane (there) stand ancient olive trees, where Jesus cried out as He Himself was being “pressed” (crushed) for us. Then there is the unused wine press depicting the new wine, a new covenant that brings us life…..abundantly. As everything around us shakes, rattles and rolls, let us continue on in our Hope and our Joy, not only now, in this season, but everyday throughout the year. Living….living this beautiful life in Him, by Him and through Him!! Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty!! Glory be to God!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!”

Looking back, I can now see that the shaking was just beginning. The testing(s) would intensify. The pressing would only continue. Only if you would in turn keep pressing in. Inviting it. Allowing it. Doing our part in working out our salvation with fear (of the the Lord) and trembling (shaking). [Philip. 2:12]

Allowing ourselves to go through the narrow place. The hard and difficult place. Think of Balaam in Numbers 22-24. It was requested of him to curse those people that had come up out of Egypt because they were so numerous that they covered the earth. God spoke to Balaam and told him not to go with those that had come and asked for him to curse the people. Cutting to the chase here, let’s focus on Balaam saddling up his donkey and going anyway. In Numbers 22: 24, it is written, “then the angel of the Lord stood in the path of the vineyards, with a wall on this side and a wall on that side.” This is where the donkey pressed into the wall. Thus pressing or as I imagine pinning Balaam’s foot between the donkey and the wall causing Balaam to strike the donkey. Further into this chapter, we read that the angel of the Lord stood in the narrow place where there was no turning to the right or the left.

I want to look at this word “narrow.” In the Hebrew, it is sar; pronounced tsar. The meaning is narrow or tight, straits or distress, and hard pebble or flint. This makes me think of being between a rock and a hard place so to speak. A place where there is no turning. No ability to turn to the right or the left. A place where you can only go forward or backward. A tight place, as in a birth canal. A place where you can only go forward by pressing on. The Hebrew word is also used for tribulation, adversary(s), enemies, foes, and oppressors.

When I was thinking about gifting the pair of wine and olive oil in 2020, there was a thought that kept coming to me, “what comes out of you when you are being pressed?” The more I contemplated that thought, my desire was more in line with “who comes out of you when being pressed/crushed?” My desire is for the answer to be the spirit of Jesus Christ. It certainly is not always the case. I still have some really off days, but I pray to that end. May He be what comes out of me, not only in the good times, but the hard times and places. In the narrow place, may His character in me be my goal.

As I was digging into this word “narrow”, I began to wonder if there was any connection to the use of it by Jesus Himself. In Matthew 7:13-14, it is written, as His words, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is board that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Jesus would now the whole of the Old Testament. Could He be referencing it here? The New Testament is written in Greek and the word for narrow here is thlibo. It means to press (as grapes), press hard upon; a compressed way (narrow, straightened, contracted); or to trouble, afflict, or distress. Even to suffer tribulation.

A wide gate would be one where you can turn to the right or left and go your own way. This would be a way that leads to destruction. It is the narrow gate that leads to life! What leads us to life? Pressing! Crushing!! This Scripture also tells us few will find it. WHY? Why will so few find it? Are we believing things things that are itching ears want to hear? Are we believing our Christian life is supposed to be easy? Not hard?

Yes, God wants to bless us. He delights in us, as His children. But as parents ourselves, have we not seen or experienced what takes place in our children’s lives when they are cuddled and not permitted to endure hardships? I wrote this before and it is worth restating. We are to grow up in the Lord. This is not about being comfortable. It is about being moldable. Being molded into His image. The One Who bore the crown of thrones. The One Who endured the slashes and scourging. The One Who hung on The Cross. This is going to be hard. “Count (consider) it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” James 1:2-3

Let us embrace the narrow place! Let us enter through the narrow gate! For He is the way, the truth and the life, as Jesus stated in John 14. He is the narrow way to the Father. He continued with “no one comes to the Father but through me.”

I believe that His grace is sufficient for us. For His grace is costly. It cost Him His life. That grace empowers us to go through that narrow place. It empowers us to overcome the testing, the pressing and crushing so that His Spirit in us flows out. His wine. His oil.

When that pressing comes, let us not be so quick to want it to go. I know it isn’t easy. I have been there. Been pressed. Our time living full time in 350 square feet has brought it’s fair share of pressing. Pressing through crazy weather events. Pressing through mechanical issues. Pressing through such close proximity with one another and not having our own space to process. Pressing through confrontations. Pressing through being more uncomfortable than ever. Pressing through letting go of every thing, literally. However, it is coming through the pressing changed. Different. How are you being pressed? May the pressing not cause us to take our eyes off of Him, but instead, lock eyes with Him in order to endure it and come out prayerfully and hopefully, more like Him.

I pray that the pressing does not cause you to go backwards and retreat. Don’t allow fear to overcome you. Remember WHO is with you through the pressing. There is nothing that you endure that He has not. Embrace the pressing as it brings you into closer proximity to The One we are to become like. Again, let us embrace the narrow place! The tight place that wants to birth something new and different in you…..more of HIM!!