Essence

One of the definition for the word essence is the real or ultimate nature of a thing. When making perfume you find the essence of the flower by crushing the pedals and adding oil. I think the essence of the human heart is often known when the circumstance are crushing and the tears flow freely. But what about the oil that is added? In the Bible oil is often regarded as a symbol of the Person and ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes in the night I find myself unable to sleep. The person I thought I was collides with the person I see exposed by the struggles of the day and the tears flow freely. It is during nights like these that my real and ultimate nature is exposed. It is during nights like this I call out for God to be gracious to me. As I seek to praise the Lord through the watches of the night longing to trust the God I do not see I find my soul anointed by the oil of His Spirit

“You have kept count of my tossing; put my tears in your bottle.” Psalm 56:8 When I read this verse I thought about the making of perfume. This Psalm begins with David calling on God because, “my enemies trample on me all day long” This trampling caused David's heart to cry out for someone who was bigger than he was. “This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.” It is only when you add the oil of the presence of God to the crushing circumstances of life that perfume is made.

Isn't this the picture of redemption where God enters into our suffering and takes our grief and puts in its place joy? Who but God could take the essence of human suffering by bottling our tear and create a sweet aroma with it? Without this oil of the presence of God the crushing simply produces suffering and the trampling simply produces grief.

Lord Jesus, You shared our grief and carried our sorrows. Your tears mingled with the tears of mankind. Because of You the tears that represent the essence of our human suffering have been redeemed.