“Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning.” Exodus 27:20
Today’s reading is a continuation of details that are given for the construction of the altar, the courtyard and the type of oil for the lampstands. God instructs Moses that the lamps are to be kept “burning from evening to morning as a lasting ordinance among the Israelites” (v.21)
What type of oil? The clearest. I didn’t know the first drops of oil pressed out of olives are the clearest – the purest. These first drops burn cleanest. This was important as the lamps were inside the tent of meeting just outside the curtain that shielded the Ark of the Covenant.
For whatever reason, I started thinking about the condition of my heart. How pure are my thoughts and motives? Do I consider Jesus first or is He a fall back if things don’t work out in my favor? It’s important for Christians to seek God’s face daily and press into the Scriptures. This directs our steps and activates divine appointments I believe we would miss if we just go at it alone. We need this connection so we don’t have just a flame but a fire. Just as those oil lamps were kept burning, so should the light of Christ burn purely in each of us so that we may offer hope to the lost in a dark and troubling world.
Kelly McGaha