It has a purpose.
I read something today by Oswald Chambers that really spoke to my heart. It was a passage in My Utmost for His Highest and I would like to share it with you, my friend. “If ever we are going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed; you cannot drink grapes. Grapes become wine only when they have been squeezed.” I don’t know much about wine, but if you take a look at the process of making wine, three words will come up repeatedly in your search. The three words are breaking, crushing, and pressing.
I don’t know about you, friend, but I’ve been through some breaking, crushing, and pressing in my life. As I read this, I remembered something that I already knew. In order for God to use us mightily, He first must break us. “You cannot drink grapes.” How right Mr. Chambers is. In order for a grape to be made into wine, it must first be broken, crushed, and pressed until every ounce of its sweet juice is extracted from it. If you and I want to truly be used by God, we must submit to the same process in our lives. And the first step in the process is the breaking.
As long as we are self-reliant, self-sufficient, or in any way still dependent on “self” we must be broken. God cannot use us as long as we are still trying to run our own lives. It is only when we are broken and completely surrendered to Him that He can begin the process of truly making us into the men and women He plans to make of us. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” Psalm 51:17. God desires a people that have given up on themselves and trusted all to Him, a people that know they need God.
The Breaking
The breaking process is often quite painful, but it is absolutely necessary. Breaking releases our true selves. It opens us up and releases what we have held deep within us. When we let God begin to work deep within us, we find that His touch is often quite gentle. He peels away the layers of our heart and with the skill of a master Surgeon, He begins to cut away some of the unnecessary parts we have been clinging to and refusing to let go of. As with any surgery, there is pain, but with the pain comes the healing we need.
I’ve learned that sometimes He has to wound you in order to reveal to you how badly you need the Healer. I am not overly fond of pain, so I am also not a big fan of the breaking process that is necessary in my life. However, there is something I keep in mind when I am going through pain. My Savior understands. He knows what it is like to be broken because He was broken for my sake. “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed” Isaiah 53:5.
The Crushing
He was wounded for our sakes, and it is those very same wounds that bring healing to us. How amazing is that. The breaking is then followed by the crushing. Crushing is yet another painful but necessary process. As I was studying and pondering over this story, I read something that reminded me of what happens when something is crushed. My friend, if you crush something, its fragrance is released. If you were to take a rose petal and crush it beneath your fingers, a beautiful fragrance would be released.
My friend, if you are being crushed right now it is so that the beautiful fragrance of His Spirit may be released through you. But the truth is that only you can determine the fragrance that is released when you are being crushed. When you are being crushed what aroma is being released into your life? Do you offer the “sacrifice of praise” (Hebrews 13:15) in the midst of your pain, releasing a sweet aroma to the Lord? Or does the smell of bitterness radiate from you as you fight against the pain you are feeling? Only you can determine which aroma will be released into your life.
Pain, unfortunately, is inevitable; none of us can escape experiencing it at some point or another in our lives. While we cannot choose to escape the pain, we can choose how we will react to it. We can choose to allow His Spirit to work in us thus helping us to release a sweet aroma or we can choose anger and bitterness. I’ll confess that I’ve done both in my life, but I have learned that choosing to allow Him to work in me and help me to offer the sacrifice of praise is a much better path, not only for me but for those in my life as well. Trust me; no one likes to be around bitter people.
I have come to the conclusion that with every pain, every trial, every crushing I can either get bitter or I can seek His help to get better. I choose Him. I choose surrendering to the crushing so that somehow, some way He can be glorified in all of this. Even as I have sat typing these words, I have been struggling with the distraction of the increasing pain in some of my joints as I type. Sometimes the pain is so distracting as I try to concentrate on what I want to say. Today is one of those days. I confess, I have been tempted to give up and not try to press through.
But I didn’t. How could I? I am right in the middle of a story about being broken, crushed, and pressed. How could I let the enemy win like that? What kind of example would I be if I gave in to the emotions I am struggling with right now? Of course, you would never have known, but I would, and how could I live with myself if I couldn’t follow the advice I am always trying to encourage others with? So I took a moment and since I can’t carry a tune in a bucket I made a “joyful noise unto the Lord” (Psalm 100) and I just breathed for a few seconds. And then I kept on typing.
I’m frustrated and I’m struggling but I am pressing on because if I am going to be crushed then let my aroma be sweet; let it be one that brings glory to His name and points others towards Him. If I am going to hurt, then let that pain have a purpose; let it be used to glorify His holy name. If I must be crushed then, God, I pray You would help me to release a sweet aroma. “For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing” 2 Cor. 2:15. If we are to be crushed, may our aroma draw others to Him.
The Pressing
The next step in the process is the pressing. If something is pressed that means steady pressure has been applied to it. I’m sure that I don’t have to explain to you what it feels like to be pressed, to have steady pressure applied to you. No, I’m quite certain that every person reading these words knows quite well what it feels like to be pressed. It’s uncomfortable. It hurts. It frustrates us. Pressing is not fun. No one likes to be pressed, but may I tell you a secret dear one? Diamonds are made by pressure. You, my darling, are a diamond in the making. This pressing has a purpose.
It takes a lot of heat and a whole lot of pressure to transform a black piece of coal into a diamond and, dear heart, that is exactly what He is doing in your life right now. I know you feel as if you are about to be pressed to the breaking point, but, my dear, it is extremely hard to break a diamond. God in you is strengthening you and you are so much stronger than you realize. He knows exactly how much pressure it will take to do the work He is doing in your life and He won’t let you break. He is refining you, not destroying you. This crushing is necessary, but it is for your good, not your harm (Jer. 29:11).
“We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” 2 Cor. 4:8-9. God is using what you are going through to strengthen you, and as my sweet friend Teresa pointed out to me one morning, He is building spiritual muscles in us. Those who are broken, crushed, and pressed, yet endure with His help and through His grace, are being made into new wine. This breaking, crushing, and pressing bring out a beauty in us that has the potential to draw others to Him.
When people see us face trials and challenges and cling to our faith, especially if we release a sweet aroma during it all, they get curious about this God that we serve. If we can choose to do our best to have a good attitude while we are suffering, then we can have the opportunity to glorify Him and draw others to Him. And I don’t know about you, but if I am going to suffer, I want something good to come out of it. I want to bring Him glory. I want to point others to Him.
The breaking, the crushing, the pressing will not stop until He has accomplished His purpose in my life so instead of complaining, I want to learn to praise Him in the storm while I look for the rainbow at the end of it. I am trying to learn to remind myself that all of this has a purpose and plead with Him to help me learn the lesson He is teaching me through all of this. I want to learn the lesson, so I don’t have to repeat any of them again. I also want to learn how to truly glorify Him through all of this.
One last but very difficult lesson I want to learn is this. I want to learn to desire Him more than anything else in this world. I want to love Him more than anything in my life and I want to want Him more than anything. This means I need to want Him more than I want relief from my circumstances. I need to want the Healer more than the healing and I need to desire Him more than I desire what He can do for me. I need to truly desire Him for who He is not what He can do for me. In other words, I need to let the breaking, crushing, and pressing press me into Him so that I truly fall in love with Him.
I know this isn’t easy and to be perfectly honest, sometimes I want to run away and hide. I want to say, “Never mind Lord, I’m not into all this becoming more like You stuff. Can I just scrape by with the ‘I got my salvation what else do I need’ attitude?” I want to say it but I don’t. I don’t because it’s not really true. My flesh may scream for relief, but my heart cries “nearer my God to thee” as I seek to know Him better. I want to truly know Him and I can’t do that unless I am willing to let Him do the work that needs to be done in my heart and life. So I surrender to the process and say, “Thy will be done”.
This process isn’t my choice and it’s definitely not my will for my life, but it is part of His will so that means it is for my good. I may not like it, but I know that I can trust Him, so I press on in spite of the pain. I press on because I am learning that He is working in all the hard times, in all the difficulties. I may not always understand them; I may not always like them, but I can always trust Him so that’s what I choose to do. I choose to trust Him and I surrender to being made into new wine no matter how painful it may be. I surrender because I know I am safe in His hands, even while they are crushing me.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not us.
2 Corinthians 4:7
Katrina Douglas
