you anoint my head with oil

Opening Prayer: Only you, O God, can anoint us with the oil we need to make our cup overflow.  Help us to come to your table rather than the table of the world.

Scripture: Psalm 23:5

Journal: What “table” do you typically go to in order to have your head anointed and your cup overflowing?  How is that working for you?  Will you let the Lord anoint your head today?

Reflection: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.” (Psalm 23:5) What a beautiful invitation!  God, our Good Shepherd, invites us to his table, the table he has prepared for us, to join him in an intimate and soul-nourishing meal.  It is a table of love, it is a table of joy, it is a table of abundance.  It is a table where our cup constantly overflows with the goodness and life and love of God.

And whenever we come to this table, he does something incredible.  He anoints our head with oil.  This anointing is one of great love and affection.  To anoint someone’s head was a gesture of hospitality and esteem, of honor and respect.  When someone’s head was anointed, it meant that they were a special guest at the table.  Anointing was a symbol of joy, abundance, and refreshment of heart—which all leads to an overflowing cup. That is the life God wants for us and with us.

Unfortunately, many of us run to other tables to try and find the life and the love and the worth and the value that only the Lord can give.  The result of this is not abundance, but scarcity.  Human honor and affection has its limits; God’s does not.

So don’t run around from table to table trying to find the love and the value that only God can give.  Instead, come to his table, the one he prepared for you.  Taste of his great affection.  Receive his fragrant anointing and allow your cup to overflow with his life and his love.

Pray

Closing Prayer: O Lord, anoint my head with oil today, so that I can know my true value and worth.  Then I can be an instrument in inviting others to the table that overflows with your life and your love.