You Anoint My Head With Oil

 By: Joanne Viola

“You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings.” (Psalm 23:5b, NLT)

Here where I live, the spring season brings not only beautiful weather but a short time when green flies will annoy and bite you to pieces. The bites are more itchy than mosquito bites, and can drive you insane as you scratch to find relief.

Shepherds knew fly season well by the behavior of their sheep. Driven crazy by flies looking to settle into their fur and nasal passages, the sheep would run themselves ragged, bang their heads against trees, and exhaust themselves.

A good shepherd knew at the very first sign of flies, it was time to anoint each sheep’s head with an ointment of oil to protect them from their tormentors.

What is the ointment we are to apply to our lives?

 It is the very Word of God, read each day and applied to our lives which will keep us free from the distractions and daily annoyances. We need to come to God’s Word on a daily basis as each day will present its own challenges.

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:2, NLT)

It is our God who has complete knowledge and wisdom and directs our lives in the way He knows is best and for our good. This is why our “cup overflows with blessings”. We can be content in whatever our days hold knowing He is ever with us, for us, and working it all out.

It is as we remember His Presence with us that we can be content and offer thanks in all things. When troubles and disappointments come, we tend to think God has forgotten or forsaken us. But the truth we must remember is that He is ever-present and ever-attentive to our every care.

“The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.” (Psalm 138:8, NKJV)

 

Photo by Carter Caroline on Unsplash