We're Never Abandoned

“He found him in a desert land
And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness;He encircled him, He instructed him,He kept him as the apple of His eye.As an eagle stirs up its nest,
Hovers over its young,Spreading out its wings, taking them up,Carrying them on its wings.

Deuteronomy 32:10-11(NKJV)




What precious words of hope! How relevant these words must have been to the Israelites for when Moses wrote them, they actually were in a desert land, an empty, howling wasteland.

Jesus Christ,Who was,is and always will be our Savior

None of us is perfect. All of us, without exception, have flaws in our thinking, our bodies, our habits of living and even our spiritual understanding. The only one who ever lived who was 100% perfect was Jesus Christ. Not only was He perfect when born, He lived His life without sin. This perfect man was completely entitled to live forever since he knew no sin and thus would know no death.

God did not force Jesus to endure the torture leading up to the cross. God did not tie Jesus' hands and put the whip in the hands of the guards who beat Him without mercy. Jesus willingly gave His perfect body as a sacrifice for the sin that placed upon every man and woman who entered this world the curse of death. Jesus was the only man who could be our Savior because He was the only man who was sinless.

God did not nail Jesus to the cross. God did not plant the crown of thorns upon Jesus' head. Jesus willingly shed His perfect blood upon the mercy seat of God as a sacrifice once, and forever for sin. Jesus was the only man who could be our Savior because He was the only man who had sinless blood running through His veins and arteries.

The Olive Press

Olive oil was a very important commodity in the Roman world. Not only was it used for consumption; it was also used for medicine, skin care and of course as fuel for lamps.

Extracting the oil from the olives was a very labor-intensive process which is still used today. To the right you can see an olive press which would have been used during the time of Christ. The olives were pressed or crushed by the heavy stone over and over again until the oil contained within them was released.

When I read these words, I always think about the olive press: