In the Bible, tribulation is often compared to a winepress, particularly in Revelation chapters 14 and 19, but it’s also mentioned in the books of the Torah and the books of the Prophets. Yahusha also spoke of a winepress in Matthew and Mark in the Parable of the Vineyard.

Is Your Wine Bitter or Sweet?

A winepress looks much different now than it did in Yahusha’s day, but they operate on the same precept. Pressure is applied in some way to squeeze the grapes in order to get the grapes to release their sweet juice. Pressure cannot be applied indiscriminately, though; care must be exercised. The pressure has to be carefully controlled or the seeds inside will be crushed and will release bitter tannins into the juice, making the juice unpalatable and certainly not good for making wine.

While the tribulation spoken of in Revelation, the Torah, and the books of the Prophets is the great tribulation, we do endure troubles in our every day life that press us enough to release some of our “juice.” Yesterday, I tried to offer a calm and reasonable solution to a problem my Mother in Law was having while sitting at the dining table, and she started screaming at me, “JUST SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!” This is just one of many examples I could give regarding my Mother in Law; this is just the latest example. She did apologize and hand me a laundry list of excuses for why she lashed out at me.

Like most people, I do not care for being disrespected, screamed at, or for someone throwing verbal stones at me for no legitimate reason. We can forgive, and we should do so, but does that mean we must continue to allow ourselves to be abused? Absolutely not. As a former “victim” of emotional, verbal, sexual, physical, and psychological abuse, we dishonor God if we allow ourselves, made in His image, to continue to be abused. I have no apologies to offer for chasing this rabbit trail.

Even though an apology is honestly offered and forgiveness is freely given, does that undo the damage that was done? Does that remove the bitter taste of the tannins from my mind and heart? No, like the crumpled paper or the fence filled with nails, once something is said and done, it cannot be undone. Things cannot go back to the way they were before. Once trust is broken, it has to be earned back, and that is no easy task. For many people, they find it easier to run away than to stay and try to mend the damage or earn back the trust that was lost.

It’s easy to point the finger at other people, but aren’t we all, all too often, guilty of this? Of lashing out at someone for stress or aggravation that someone else caused? For vomiting on someone else because our bellies are too full of junk that our stomachs cannot digest? Is that the way we should be acting and reacting? Is that the way that we should be treating other people? Is that loving our brother as Christ loved us? Let’s review a few scriptures that deal with just this.

Yahusha said in Matthew 15:11 that it is not what goes into the body that defiles a person, but what comes out of that person is what defiles that person. He then goes on to say:

Matthew 15:17  Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? 18  But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. 19  For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 20  These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.

Let’s look at a few more scriptures that addresses this.

• Matthew 12:34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
• Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
• Proverbs 10:11 The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.
• Proverbs 24: 12 If thou sayest, “Behold, we knew it not;” doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?
• Luke 6: 45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
• Proverbs 21: 2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.

What comes out of you when you are jostled and pressed by other people? Do you revert to responding in the flesh by lashing out at them? Or do you spill the sweet juice of God’s grace on them? When someone questions you, do you throw verbal stones at them? Or do you in due diligence try to answer their questions or help them find resources that can?

Yahusha said in Matthew 12:36-37 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

Words have just as much power as actions do, but as we see in the scriptures, both words and actions are evidence of what is in your heart. What is growing in your heart will be what spills out when you get pressed or jostled. When you press grapes, you don’t get strawberry jam. You get grape juice (sometimes bitter grape juice).

Challenge

Examine yourself. When you get tested, stressed, and pressed, what is it that flows out of your heart? Is it sweet juice or bitter? When you are tested, when obstacles stand in your path, when you are pressed by the pressures and stressors of life, what comes out of you is exactly what you have stored inside of you. You cannot have something pressed out of you that does not already reside inside of you. If you walk around yelling at people, complaining, being a generally miserable ungrateful person, your juice is going to be very bitter indeed.