As we look around at our world and see the social chaos, we become burdened with a desire to do something about it.
Our first reaction is to join many worthwhile groups to fight against the problems. As we participate in one group after the other, we begin to feel like the housewife trying to mop up water around a leaking water pipe. If a pipe leaks, we call a plumber. It would be useless to spend the rest of our lives mopping up the dripping water without getting at the cause of the leak. It is also impossible for us to eradicate our social ills unless we discover their source.
Our country was founded on Christian laws but, because we thought it would be possible to retain our morals without the Christian ethic, we have been making new laws. We try to justify sin by insisting on our human rights to do as we wish. Nothing but a Christian revival can restore Christian morals.
There is a story in the Bible of a good Samaritan. When this Samaritan found a man lying on the road who had been seriously beaten by robbers, he took time to stop when all others had ignored him. He cared for him and poured oil and wine into his wounds (Luke 10:34).
The Bible's teachings are so profound! Oil and wine represent more than just ingredients to physically heal the wounds. Oil represents the Holy Spirit of God which Jesus left in our world when He returned to the Father. Wine represents the blood of Jesus shed for sinners, and we drink it at our communion services in remembrance of His death. Oil and wine represent all the restorative medicines we need to heal our sick world.
Oil and wine are used in the Bible as symbols to describe what the ground yields as opposed to times of drought and famine (Haggai 1:11). In Revelation, grain is used to represent the basic food, while oil and wine represent a higher standard of living (Rev.6:6). We are reminded that God has an unlimited supply of food, even "the cattle upon a thousand hills" (Ps.50:10). So, too, God has an unlimited supply of oil and wine to alleviate the moral drought in our land today.
So while there are many worthwhile agencies to alleviate the pain of suffering in our world, we must also find the time to pour in the oil and the wine of spiritual healing. We must uphold, strengthen, and comfort those less fortunate than ourselves, and those who have fallen into sin.
Oil and wine represent God's provision for physical healing, spiritual healing and also the supplying of food and water in times of drought and famine. However, God's promises always have an 'if' before them. He told King Solomon, "IF my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land" (2 Chron.7:14).
So while our many agencies and groups can do much to alleviate our social ills, their efforts resemble band-aids on a deep wound.
Only the healing oil of God's Holy Spirit and the cleansing power of Jesus' blood poured into our wounded world can save us from spiritual famine and self-destruction. But He cannot do it until we humble ourselves and pray, and turn from our wicked ways!
© 1999, Doreen Palmer