PENETRATING OIL

The power of penetrating oil has often been a wonder to me. I was changing the brakes on my son’s vehicle. Things were going smoothly. The front brakes were completed. I had started on the back ones when things ground to a halt. I could not free the left brake drum to remove it. Oh, I had backed the brake shoes off, but the drum was rusted to the hub. “Seized up,” is how we used to describe such a thing. Taking the drum by opposites edges I tried to wiggle it side to side. Nothing. I pried at it. It wouldn’t budge. Using my ball-peen hammer, I banged the drum side to opposite side and even traced the circumference with blows from my hammer. Nothing gave. Although I didn’t have the exact puller needed, I made an attempt to remove the drum with the one I did have. Nothing relented. (Mechanics, please, indulge me by overlooking what I should have, could have, done.) Frustrated I sat on a stool catching my breath and angrily staring at the stubborn drum. It’s being stuck and unwilling to let go of the hub was holding everything up, devouring any hopes of a free, relaxing evening. I began contemplating a blow torch when I thought of something I should have thought of from the start: Penetrating oil! Retrieving the oil from my work bench, I squirted it all around the hub where it was wedded to the drum. It left a dark ring as it soaked into the rust. I went into the house, for a drink—lemonade, that is. Just a few minutes later, not expecting much after so short a time, I went back to the drum, and, sitting on the stool, I lightly tapped one side of the drum and then the opposite side. Just like that, the drum popped off the hub. So easily. Nothing to it. What had seemed impossible happened after the application of penetrating oil. The Bible often refers to the Holy Spirit as oil. I realize that the analogy of the Holy Spirit as oil was not a reference to its lubrication properties; and, never was the descriptive “penetrating” paired with “oil.” Yet, I do not think it inaccurate or sacrilegious to say that the Holy Spirit is Penetrating Oil. Words used to tout and advertise penetrating oil’s ability are “breaks lose,” “frees,” and “stops corrosion.” Those descriptive actions are in addition to the one in its very name, “penetrating.” All of these things the Spirit does; does when nothing else can. Leading worship services, I would have to describe some of them as I did that brake drum—seized up. Nothing is moving. Hearts are frozen hard. Worship is stiff. Things are just tight. The corrosion of bitterness has rusted fast the arms of worship. The oxidation of apathy has welded the lips of praise. Prayers are stuck somewhere inside souls unable to escape. Once seated in the pew, the sinner cannot break loose to answer the Gospel’s call to the altar. The rust of sin keeps the wheel inside the wheel, from turning when the singing begins. The toes do not tap and neither do the hearts of worship beat. The build up of worldliness in the soul keeps it melded to self-centered thoughts instead of soaring heavenward with the crescendo of the music, the climax of the sermon, the exaltation in the worship. Then, God in grace and mercy begins to apply His Spirit. The prideful façade, the encrustation of bitterness, the corrosion of worldliness, the layers of sin, the rust of indifference are penetrated. God has moved past the exterior into the heart. Tongues are loosened and prayer and praise pour out. Arms break free and are raised in triumph, victory, surrender, and adulation. The singing comes unattached from a horizontal plane and begins to vertically ascend towards heaven pulling worshipers after it. The preacher’s words flow freely from his heart unimpeded, unstopped, unhindered. The corrosion of sin loosens its hold on the sinner, and, breaking lose from his pew, his past, his sin, he answers Christ’s call to salvation’s altar. The world doesn’t let go of the backsliding Christian; the backsliding Christian lets go of the world and weepingly wraps his freed arms around Christ in renewed love and dedication. People are moving. Prayers are going somewhere. The Word has free course. Worship is liberated. Yes, I would have to say the Holy Spirit is Penetrating Oil.

PENETRATING OIL

Contact

Follow Us