I had to experience a yearning similar to the longing and preparation described of the the 10 virgins waiting for the bridegroom in order to truly understand this parable.
Reflecting on several passages in the New Testament, the mystery of Jesus as the bridegroom and the church being His Bride made me wonder, what does it mean to be “betrothed” to the Savior.
I remember the specific season where I endured a deep longing, waiting, and yearning to be united with my love. The ache of absence was real. In the middle of this aching and longing. the Lord shepherded me into a season busy with preparation. I prepped, I cleaned, and I organized. Each day mindfully taking my time, making sure to keep my hands and fingers skilled in faith with the promise that God had showed me and confirmed for me.
9 She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.
-Proverbs 31:9
The days and moments of preparation created this special space that made his actual arrival a surprise filled with elation and joy.
I imagine that Christ’s Second Coming will be a feeling even more divine than the elation I felt in those initial moments. More recently, God showed me that preparation is more than just this world’s busy work.
The Unhewn Vessel
Post my season of breaking, I learned what it means to come undone and become a stone unhewn. No longer polished by the world’s standards or societal norms that result in a sealed off guarded fraction of myself closing me off from the fullness of Lord Jesus’ frequency of grace, The outer mold shattered before God, allowed a beautiful daughter to step out in God’s grace; open, porous, ready to receive His glory.
I realized that while I was busy “cleaning the house” of my life (fully receiving the beautIful gift of Christ’s redemption and freedom), the most beautiful essential partS of God’s grace was able to flow into my life freely.
The Oil
Jesus explains this in the Parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25. The difference between those who were ready and those who were not was simply because of what they carried.
KJV: “But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.”
AMP: “But the prudent (sensible, wise) took oil in their flasks along with their lamps.”
The Bride then is not just a yielder of a lamp, but an active participant who lets go of worldly expectations, allowing the Holy Spirit to flow through her to saturate her unhewn nature for the beautiful essence the Lord put inside of her. Her letting go makes the bride an active participant in the preparation for her Bridegroom and the wedding feast!
A Wick Soaked in Love
This preparation is eternal as much as it is temporal. A daughter’s life of surrender, that actively seeks her Lord cannot be accomplished using earthly efforts. For when she tries to burn without the Holy Spirit she’ll find herself scorched or worse, she’ll find that she has scorched others.
So how do we get this oil?
The answer is simple. This oil is poured over a daughter in the susurrus (the gentle whisper) of prayer and praise. In these daily practices, the Father freely gifts the Oil of Gladness. It is in this precious space of letting go of control that allows the cracks of our lives to be filled with God’s glory so that we can burn brightly without burning out.
This space also keeps a daughter’s face turned toward the Bridegroom. Walking, waiting, seeing what He needs you to see or do.
When He does come, the surprise is so sweet. We experience joy and jubilation that is indescribable. More importantly though, there is an igniting. The oil that is kept trimmed in prayer is lit up in the closeness of His eternal fire. Filling us with joy that consumes without destroying, because our oil was refined in walking and received when He received us at His throne of grace.
Consider this waiting period your holy rehearsal. Every moment of preparation now is a step toward that eternal wedding feast with our Lord and Savior, the Lover of our souls who waits for us as eagerly as we wait for Him.
The Bridegroom is coming. Are you carrying enough Oil to recognize His face in the dark?
🖤
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