Anointed

Throughout Scripture anointing with oil plays an important role as a symbolic expression of God bringing His presence into the lives of His people.

In Psalm 23:5 David speaks of The Lord, His Shepherd, anointing his head with oil coupled with the metaphor of his life being like an overflowing cup— which of course points to abundance, fullness and uncontainable blessing.

All of this is in David’s heart and mind tracking directly behind his statements about his enemies being present and apparently actively harassing his life— and that is on the heels of his testimony of walking through the ‘valley of the shadow of death’, the abode of evil.

Yet— though all that is true … in, through and above it all David testifies in the midst of it all God is, nonetheless, present with him— and more than that, his soul is brimming over with joy.

This all bids a question and a challenge that I often make to my own soul in difficult times:

“Do I have The Joy of The Lord? If not, why not and will I allow The Lord, My Shepherd to fill my soul with His Presence and Joy.”

It’s a diagnostic thing.

I have three ‘gauges’ on the dashboard of my soul:

Righteousness.

Peace.

Joy.

I learned long ago to install these gauges on my soul based on Romans 14:17…

“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit…”

I often check those gauges with continual diagnostic questioning along the way.

Am I experiencing peace, righteousness and joy at this point in my life?

If the answer is ‘no’, I treat my soul like my car— I stop, pull over and fix it.

If we have don’t have the peace of God, are not living in Christlike righteousness and have lost our joy— it’s time to stop and find out why… and then fix it.

My Buick was running rough all winter long. My engine light would flash when I put the gas on going up a hill or to pass someone. I could feel the miss and I could see the gauge flash. BUT— because I was busy and didn’t really want any bad news or another Buick-bill, I babied the gas peddle and managed every single trip with a decided underlying angst. Eventually, driving became a negative thing— I spent as much time looking through the windshield as I did squinting at the gauges.

Life can get like that.

Finally I hooked up my tester to the cars computer and it gave me the error codes (OP303)— a bad coil on cylinder #3. I can do the work myself and the part is $68 and in stock at the AutoZone down the street.

Why did I spend all winter ruing even the thought of making any trip in my Buick(?)— because I’m a human.

How about when our souls/lives are running rough? The problem (and the fix) demand we stop and do the diagnostics and complete the work that needs to be done… and it might cost us something too.

Invariably, soul-fixing involves filling our souls again with God’s Presence.

That’s why David joins the two in Psalm 23:5– (1) God’s Presence (anointing) and (2) a peaceful/righteous/joyful life being the result of God’s Presence fully manifest in our lives.

Those three gauges are pointing to the engine/core/transcendent Kingdom Reality of being indwelled by Jesus— by the ministry of The Holy Spirit.

He— The Holy Spirit— is the ‘oil’ (the medium) of God’s Presence in our lives.

When my car’s gauges are off, I can put a piece of black electrical tape over the reading window (not that I’ve ever done that😊); I guess I could blame the gauge for the trouble; I could try to make the gauge read like I wanted by manipulating its gears or sensors. BTW— the DMV knows when you try that.

Or— I could appreciate the gauges and do the diagnostics and pray/ask/seek/obey/repent/trust/forgive/… or whatever the ‘owners manual’ (Bible)  calls for… to get my anointing flowing again… until my cup runs over properly, as God intends.

Heavenly Father, I’m at the diagnostic center today. My joy is way low.

I know why too.

There’s a pressure leak because of an issue that’s causing me tremendous sorrow.

Yet— “The Joy of The Lord is my Strength” is always true— because Your Joy flows directly from Your Presence… and never through my circumstances.

So, while I work through the problem, I all the more pray and believe and worship You— receiving Your Transcendent Presence into my core-being. Anoint me today— My Lord; My Shepherd— until my cup overflows in peace, in righteousness and in joy… all Yours and all mine, in Christ Jesus.

For Your Glory,

Amen.