In this session of Crushing by TD Jakes, we go through chapter 12; titled ‘An Eternal Pairing’.
The chapter uses the experience of tasting fine wine, not necessarily just the by-product of grapes but how it is paired with other tastes of the pallet. For many wine is not that marvelous, and for others they actually focus on the impact of wine more than the pairing of wine with other foods. Pastor Jakes touches on how a wine is crafted and how it is characterized; about the subtle and complex traits that are associated with various wines. He attempts to explain how a specific glass of wine can enhance the flavors of other foods. He also makes a point that great wine is typically not meant to be enjoyed by itself but instead, paired with a perfect menu item in order to consummate the culinary marriage of food and drink.
Some wines match up with certain foods better than others. Typically the practice is that matching a red wine with bolder, savory red meat dishes while white wines complement fish, seafood and chicken. We want a wine that complements and even enhances the food while possessing its own intensity and flavor. Much in the same way, when we ferment into eternal wine, our pairing with God releases the fullness of our new, bold flavor.
Have you ever experienced the pairing of wine with other food? Can you describe a good pairing and a not so good pairing? Can you describe a good pairing experience?
What other kinds of pairings come to mind when you think about the perfect way wine and food usually go together? For instance, salt and pepper. What pairings best describe the way you feel you and God relate, and why?
Our pairing with God reflects the eternal nature of our lives. he made us as eternal, spiritual beings housed within temporal, mortal bodies. From the moment of our conception in the womb, we were made to live with God forever.
Because our time on earth is temporary, however, we often lose sight of the truth. Instead, we become consumed and blinded by the visible, tangible elements around us, losing sight of the invisible, eternal realities within the ultimate scope of God’s kingdom. Due to our human limitations and the short time we walk this earth, we may doubt our eternal nature and God’s intention for us.
Instead, we may allow our limited understanding of temporary pain to drive us into the arms of pleasurable idols that will never be able to appreciate the eternal vintage that makes us so unique. Like the people of Israel creating a golden calf to worship, we chase after drugs, alcohol, sex, money, fame, and anything else we can find to distract us from the Master Vintner’s pursuit as we resist the discomfort required by our crushing.
What struggles, temptations, or addictions have chronically hindered hour attempts to grow in your faith? How have they pulled you away from God? And how have they possibly driven you toward Him?
What object or material item best symbolizes your own personal golden calf or idol? A new car? A certain house in a particular neighborhood? A membership with a specific group of people? A job at a specific company or fellowship with specific groups of people?
Sometimes our transformation into eternal wine seems delayed. We impatiently struggle to follow the wilderness path of detours and derailments that send us through the desert instead of along a straight course to our divine destination. When the path doesn’t seem to reveal itself the way we wish, we might be tempted to believe, yet again, that God has orphaned us in this new, unfamiliar territory, to a point where we might even ask, “Is this all there is Lord?”
Most likely, that just because we can’t see God, it doesn’t mean that He’s absent. Rather, He may simply be revealing Himself to us in a form we have yet to recognize. WE recall how even Christ’s disciples first thought Jesus must be a ghost when they saw Him walking on water toward their storm-tossed boat. They were not used to seeing their Master doing something they deemed impossible, so therefore they couldn’t recognize Him.
We often wrestle with the same misperceptions and mistaken assumptions. In the moments of fear and waves of grief from past losses, we lose sight of God’s presence in the form we want or are used to seeing. We jump to the conclusion that He is hiding from us or leaving us behind when, in fact, He is simply wanting us to recognize Him in new forms – much like seeing how what was once a grape can be present in wine.
What internal process would you like to speed up in order to hasten your maturity? Why?
When have you felt like you could not see God’s presence in your life or like He was hiding from you?
When has God revealed Himself in a new, unfamiliar form that surprised you? How did this revelation change the way you perceive Him? Your relationship with Him?
The delay, at least from our human perspective, in the fulfillment of God’s promises is often the source of our pain. Pastor Jakes shared how he is convinced that most of the time when the Lord reveals where He wants to take us, He spotlights the mountaintops and leaves the valleys hidden in shadows. He knows that if we could see what we must endure in order to reach those summits, we might give up altogether.
God doesn’t want to torture us, tease us, or tazer us with unseen crushing ahead. Instead, He uses those valleys to equip us, strengthen us, and empower us for the steep climbs ahead. In those darkest, most desolate times when we hit rock bottom, we must take comfort that there is something we are gaining that God deems necessary for what lies ahead. We need to not abandon our journey by simply forge onward through the storm and trust that blue skies await just beyond the next bend and/or horizon.
Have you ever experienced delays and distractions only to realize that God was using them to guide you toward Him?
Have you ever waited and desired something for so long that you resolved in yourself that it was never going to happen? Have you ever had to declare that your dreams were dead so that you could finally have a moment’s peace?
What sustains your faith in God right now? Why do you continue to trust Him after all you’ve endured and suffered in your life? Even while He was in your life…
Many times, our crushing leaves us raw and vulnerable so that even as God begins to rebuild our dreams, we’re tempted to run. We must keep in mind, however, the central message of what we’ve been discussing throughout this series. The crushing we experience in life’s dark valleys become the resurrection tools God uses to bring us new life atop the peaks of success.
Just as Christ endured the pain before His gain, we too must give ourselves over to this process – especially as we come out of the other side of our crushing into fermentation. As we adjust to being new wine, we must resist retreating back to the familiar, default ways of hopelessness, resignation, and despair. Every delay, setback, discouragement, or reminder of past losses can be used as God’s building blocks to breathe new life into our dreams.
As we grow accustomed to being new wine, we must realize that we sill see God in new ways as well. Our pairing with Him goes beyond the perfection of a fine wine sipped during the consumption of a gourmet meal. Our paring with God is literally an eternal match made in heaven.
When circumstances in your life get hard, are you more inclined toward fight or flight? Do you like to confront problems head-on? Or run front them in hopes they will disappear? Are there specific times or situations where you tend to do one or the other?
What do you fear losing most in your life right now? How does this fear inhibit your faith from maturing? How do you live with this fear in the midst of trusting God with your future?
Each of us are in a season. Some are in a stretch of waiting that seems unending. Others are in a peaceful situation where there may be anxiety of future valleys. There is some times the apprehension to move forward because we have gotten familiar with this specific mountain top. Yet others are trudging through valley after valley, wondering if they will have what it takes to even make it up the next mountain. Let us be encouraged that we are not out wandering alone. We have each other and best guide and coach we could ever need.
This week look for ways God is revealing himself to you, through others and in the variety of situations. Don’t pull away or abandon the journey just because it is not familiar or particularly easy at the moment, He is much wiser than we are. When we gather again, we will discuss the idea of “A Tasting with the King”.
Jakes, T. D. Crushing: God Turns Pressure into Power. FaithWords, 2019.