06/09/2026
Be prepared for the Midnight Cry!
HIDDEN OIL, VISIBLE LIGHT
Matthew 25:1-13
We live in a world that is obsessed with the lamp. We spend our lives polishing the exterior, trimming the wick, and making sure the brass shines brightly enough for everyone around us to notice.
In our careers, our social circles, and even our religious spaces, it is incredibly easy to focus all our energy on what is visible. We curate the presentation. We show up, we speak the right words, and we carry the lamp.
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells a story about ten bridesmaids waiting for a wedding procession. All ten of them look remarkably similar from the outside. They all have the same invitation, they are all waiting for the same bridegroom, they all get tired and fall asleep, and crucially, they all have lamps. If you walked past them on the road, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the five who were wise and the five who were foolish.
But a midnight cry changes everything. The groom is arriving.
When the call goes out, all ten bridesmaids wake up and look at their lamps. It is only in the dark, stretching moments of testing that the critical difference is exposed.
Five of them brought extra oil in jars; five of them did not.
The lamp is what people see, but the oil is what God sees.
The lamp represents our public-facing faith. It is our attendance, our serving, our vocabulary, and the outward appearance of a good life. It is everything that can be measured by human eyes.
Lamps are necessary—Jesus explicitly tells us elsewhere to let our light shine before others. The problem isn’t the lamp; the problem is when we assume the lamp can run without oil.
The oil represents the hidden, intimate reality of your relationship with God. It is what happens in secret. It is the prayers whispered when no one is watching, the quiet trust maintained during a private heartbreak, and the daily surrender of your will to the Holy Spirit.
Oil cannot be faked, it cannot be conjured up at the last minute, and as the foolish bridesmaids discovered, it cannot be borrowed from someone else. You cannot survive on the spiritual reservoir of your spouse, your parents, or your pastor.
When the midnight moments of life hit—whether that is a sudden crisis, a season of profound waiting, or ultimately the return of Christ—the outward appearance of faith is no longer enough. A dry wick burns out in seconds. The only thing that sustains the light through the darkness is the hidden supply of oil.
God is not impressed by the size or the beauty of our lamps. He looks past the polished metal and peers straight into the reservoir of the heart. He looks for the oil of genuine devotion, quiet obedience, and personal intimacy.
As you go about your day, take a moment to look past your outward routine. Ask yourself: am I spending more time polishing my lamp for others to see, or am I sitting quietly with God, allowing Him to fill my jar with oil?
Do not wait for midnight to find out that you are running on empty. Turn your attention to the hidden places, because the depth of your secret life with God will always determine the endurance of your public light.
(Note: Generated with assistance from Gemini 3.5 Flash)
Monday Emmanuel
Ading Lanje Suan
Esther Ebu
