A SHEPHERD LOOKS AT PSALM 23 #10

 A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 #10

Anointing the head with Oil

      

 THOU ANOINTEST MY HEAD WITH OIL

     AS ONE MEDITATES on this magnificent poem it is helpful 

to  keep in mind that the poet is recounting the salient events of

the full year in a sheep's life. He takes us with him from the

home ranch where every need is so carefully supplied by the

owner, out into the green pastures, along the still waters, up

through the mountain valleys to the high tablelands of summer.

     Here, now, where it would appear the sheep are in a sublime

setting on the high meadows; where there are clear running

springs; where the forage is fresh and tender; where there is the

intimate close contact with the shepherd; suddenly we find "a fly

in the ointment," so to speak.

     For in the terminology of the sheepman, "summer time is fly

time." By this, reference is made to the hordes of insects that

emerge with the advent of warm weather. Only those people who

have kept livestock or studied wildlife habits are aware of the

serious problems for animals presented by insects in the summer.

     To name just a few parasites that trouble stock and make

their lives a misery: there are warble flies, bot flies, heel flies, 

nose (nasal) flies, deer flies, black flies, mosquitos, gnats and other 

minute, winged parasites that proliferate at this time of year. 

Their attacks on animals can readily turn the golden summer 

months  into a time of torture for sheep and drive them almost to 

distraction.

     Sheep are especially troubled by the nose fly, or nasal fly,

as it is sometimes called. Here little flies buzz about the

sheep's head, attempting to deposit their eggs on the damp,

mucous membranes of the sheep's nose. If they are successful the

eggs will hatch in a few days to form small, slender, worm-like

larvae. They work their way up the nasal passages into the

sheep's head; they burrow into the flesh and there set up an

intense irritation accompanied by severe inflammation.

     For relief from this agonizing annoyance sheep will

deliberately beat their heads against trees, rocks, posts, or

brush. They will rub them in the soil and thrash around against

woody growth. In extreme cases of intense infestation a sheep may

even kill itself in a frenzied endeavor to gain respite from the

aggravation. Often advanced stages of infection from these flies

will lead to blindness. 

     Because of all this, when the nose flies hoveraround the

flock, some of the sheep become frantic with fear and panic in

their attempts to escape their tormentors. They will stamp their

feet erratically and race from place to place in the pasture

trying desperately to elude the flies. Some may run so much they

will drop from sheer exhaustion. Others may toss their heads up

and down for hours. They will hide in any bush or woodland that

offers shelter. On some occasions they may refuse to graze in the

open at all.

     All this excitement and distraction has a devastating effect

on the entire flock. Ewes and lambs rapidly lose condition and

begin to drop in weight. The ewes will go off milking and their

lambs will stop growing gainfully. Some sheep will be injured in

their headlong rushes of panic; others may be blinded and some

even killed outright.

     Only the strictest attention to the behavior of the sheep by

the shepherd can forestall the difficulties of "fly time." At the

very first sign of flies among the floc he will apply an antidote

to their heads. I always preferred to use a homemade remedy

composed of linseed oil, sulphur and tar which was smeared 

over the sheep's nose and head as a protection against nose flies.    

     What an incredible transformation this would make among the

sheep. Once the oil had been applied to the sheep's head there

was an immediate change in behavior. Gone was the aggravation;

gone the frenzy; gone the irritability and the restlessness. Instead, 

the sheep would start to feed quietly again, then soon lie down in 

peaceful contentment.

     This, to me is the exact picture of irritations in my own

life. How easy it is for there to be a fly in the ointment of

even my most lofty spiritual experience! So often it is the

small, petty annoyances that ruin my repose. It is the niggling

distractions that become burning issues that can well nigh drive

me round the bend or up the wall. At times some tiny, tantalizing

thing torments me to the point where I feel I am just beating my

brains out. And so my behavior as a child of God degenerates to 

a most disgraceful sort of frustrated tirade.

     Just as with the sheep there must be continuous and renewed

application of oil to forestall the "flies" in my life, there must be 

a continuous anointing of God's gracious Spirit to counteract 

the ever-present aggravations of personality conflicts. Only one 

application of oil, sulphur and tar was not enough for the entire 

summer. It was a process that had to be repeated. The fresh 

application was the effective antidote.

     There are those who contend that in the Christian life one

need only have a single, initial anointing of God's Spirit. Yet

the frustrations of daily dilemmas demonstrate that one must have

Him come continuously to the troubled mind and heart to

counteract the attacks of one's tormentors.

     This is a practical and intimate matter between myself and

my Master. In Luke 11:13 Christ Himself, our Shepherd, urges us

to ask for the Holy Spirit to be given to us by the Father.

     It is both a logical and legitimate desire for us to have

the daily anointing of God's gracious Spirit upon our minds. 

God alone can form in us the mind of Christ. The Holy Spirit alone

can give to us the attitudes of Christ. He alone makes it possible 

for us to react to aggravations and annoyances with quietness and 

calmness.

     When people or circumstances or events beyond our control

tend to "bug" us, it is possible to be content and serene when

these "outside" forces are counteracted by the presence of God's

Spirit. In Romans 8:1-2, we are told plainly it is the law of the

Spirit of life in Christ Jesus that makes us free from the law of

sin and death.

     It is this daily anointing of God's gracious Spirit upon my

mind which produces in my life such personality traits as joy,

contentment, love, patience, gentleness and peace. What a

contrast this is to the tempers, frustration and irritableness

which mars the daily conduct of so many of God's children.

     What I do in any given situation is to expose it to my

Master, my Owner, Christ Jesus, and say simply, "O Lord, I can't

cope with these petty, annoying, peevish problems. Please apply

the oil of Your Spirit to my mind. Both at the conscious and

sub-conscious levels of my thought-life enable me to act and

react just as You would." And He will. It will surprise you how

promptly He complies with such a request made in deadly earnest.

     But summertime for the sheep is more than just flytime. It

is also "scab-time." Scab is an irritating and highly contagious

disease common among sheep the world over. Caused by a minute,

microscopic parasite that proliferates in warm weather, "scab"

spreads throughout a flock by direct contact between infected and

non-infected animals.

     Sheep love to rub heads in an affectionate and friendly

manner. Scab is often found most commonly around the head. 

When two sheep rub together the infection spreads readily from 

one to the other.

     In the Old Testament when it was declared that the sacrificial 

lambs should be without blemish, the thought uppermost in the 

writer's mind was that the animal should be free of scab. In a very 

real and direct sense scab is significant of contamination, of sin, 

of evil.

     Again as with flies, the only effective antidote is to apply

linseed oil, sulphur and other chemicals that can control this

disease. In many sheep-rearing countries dips are built and the

entire flock is put through the dip. Each animal is completely

submerged in the solution until its entire body is soaked. The

most difficult part to do is the head. The head has to be plunged

under repeatedly to insure that scab there will be controlled.

     Some sheepmen take great care to treat the head by hand.

Only once did my sheep become infected by scab. I had purchased 

a few extra ewes from another rancher to increase the flock. It so

happened they had, unknown to me, a slight infection of scab

which quickly began to spread through the entire healthy flock.

It meant I had to purchase a huge dipping tank and install it in

my corrals. At great expense, to say nothing of the time and

heavy labor involved, I had to put the entire flock, one by one

through the dipping solution to clear them of the disease. It was

a tremendous task and one which entailed special attention to

their heads. So I know precisely what David meant when he wrote,

"Thou anointest my head with oil." Again it was the only antidote

for scab.

     Perhaps it should be mentioned that in Palestine the old

remedy for this disease was olive oil mixed with sulphur and

spices. This home remedy served equally well in the case of flies

that came to annoy the flocks.

     In the Christian life, most of our contamination by the world, 

by sin, by that which would defile and disease us spiritually comes 

through our minds. It is a case of mind meeting mind to transmit 

ideas, concepts and attitudes which may be damaging.

     Often it is when we "get our heads together" with someone

else who may not necessarily have the mind of Christ, that we

come away imbued with concepts that are not Christian. 

     Our thoughts, our ideas, our emotions, our choices, our

impulses, drives and desires are all shaped and molded through

the exposure of our minds to other people's minds. In our modern

era of mass communication, the danger of the "mass mind" grows

increasingly grave. Young people in particular, whose minds are

so malleable find themselves being molded under the subtle

pressures and impacts made on them by television, radio,

magazines, newspapers, and fellow classmates, to say nothing 

of their parents and teachers.

     Often the mass media which are largely responsible for

shaping our minds are in the control of men whose characters 

are not Christlike: who in some cases are actually anti-Christian.

One cannot be exposed to such contacts without coming away

contaminated. The thought patterns of people are becoming

increasingly abhorrent. Today we find more tendency to violence,

hatred, prejudice, greed, cynicism, and increasing disrespect for

that which is noble, fine, pure or beautiful.

     This is precisely the opposite of what Scripture teaches us.

In Philippians 4:8 we are instructed emphatically in this matter,

". . . whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,

whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,

whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good

report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think

on these things"! Here again, the only possible, practical path

to attaining such a mind free of the world's contamination is to

be conscious daily, hourly of the purging presence of God's Holy

Spirit, applying Himself to my mind.

     There are those who seem unable to realize His control of

their minds and thoughts. It is a simple matter of faith and

acceptance. Just as one asks Christ to come into the life

initially to assure complete control of one's conduct, so one

invites the Holy Spirit to come into one's conscious and

subconscious mind to monitor one's thought-life. Just as by faith

we believe and know and accept and thank Christ for coming into

our lives, so by simple faith and confidence in the same Christ,

we believe and know and accept with thanks the coming (or

anointing) of His gracious Spirit upon our minds. Then having

done this, we simply proceed to live and act and think as He

directs us.

     The difficulty is that some of us are not in dead earnest

about it. Like a stubborn sheep we will struggle, kick and

protest when the Master puts His hand upon us for this purpose.

Even if it is for our own good, we still rebel and refuse to have

Him help us when we need it so desperately.

     In a sense we are a stiff-necked lot and were it not for

Christ's continuing compassion and concern for us, most of us

would be beyond hope or help. Sometimes I am quite sure Christ

comes to us and applies the oil of His own Spirit to our minds in

spite of our own objections. Were this not so, where would most

of us be? Surely every gracious thought that enters my mind had

its origin in Him.

     Now as summer, in the high Country, moves gradually into

autumn, subtle changes occur both in the countryside and in the

sheep. The nights become cooler; there are the first touches of

frost; the insects begin to disappear and are less a pest; the

foliage on the hills turns to crimson, gold and bronze; mist and

rain begin to fall and the earth prepares for winter.

     In the flock there are also subtle changes. This is the

season of the rut, of mating, of great battles between the rams

for possession of the ewes. The necks of the monarchs swell and

grow strong. They strut proudly across the pastures and fight

furiously for the favors of the ewes. The crash of heads and thud

of colliding bodies can be heard through the hours of day and

night.

     The shepherd knows all about this. He knows that some of the

sheep will and can actually kill, injure and maim each other in

these deadly combats. So he decides on a very simple remedy. 

At this season of the year he will catch his rams and smear their

heads with grease. I used to apply generous quantities of axle

grease to the head and nose of each ram. Then when they collided

in their great crashing battles the lubricant would make them

glance off each other in such a ludicrous way they stood there

feeling rather stupid and frustrated. In this way much of the

heat and tension was dissipated and little damage done.

     Among God's people there is a considerable amount of

knocking each other. Somehow if we don't see eye to eye with the

other person, we persist in trying to assert ourselves and become

"top sheep." A good many become badly bruised and hurt this way.

In fact I found as a pastor that much of the grief, the wounds,

the hurts, the ill will, the unforgiven things in people's lives

could usually be traced back to old rivalries or jealousies or

battles that had broken out between believers. Scores of

skeptical souls will never enter a church simply because away

back in their experience someone had battered them badly.

     To forestall and prevent this sort of thing from happening

among His people our Shepherd loves to apply the precious

ointment of the presence of His gracious Spirit to our lives. 

It will be recalled that just before His crucifixion, our Lord in

dealing with His twelve disciples, who, even then, were caught 

up in jealous bickering and rivalry for prestige, told of the coming

of the Comforter - the Spirit of Truth. Because of His being sent

to them, He said, they would know peace. He went on to say that

His people would be known everywhere for their love for one

another.

But too often this simply is not true among God's own people.

They hammer and knock each other, stiff-necked with pride and

self-assertion. They are intolerant, dogmatic and uncharitable

with other Christians.

     Yet when the gracious Holy Spirit invades a man or woman,

when He enters that life and is in control of the personality,

the attributes of peace, joy, long-suffering and generosity

become apparent. It is then that suddenly one becomes aware of

how ridiculous are all the petty jealousies, rivalries and

animosities which formerly motivated their absurd assertions.

This is to come to a place of great contentment in the Shepherd's

care. And it is then the cup of contentment becomes real in the

life. As the children of God, the sheep in the Divine Shepherd's

care, we should be known as the most contented people on earth. 

A quiet, restful contentment should be the hallmark of those who

call Christ their Master.

     If He is the One who has all knowledge and wisdom and

understanding of my affairs and management; if He is able to 

cope with every situation, good or bad, that I encounter, then surely

I should be satisfied with His care. In a wonderful way my cup,

or my lot in life, is a happy one that overflows with benefits of

all sorts.

     The trouble is most of us just don't see it this way. Especially 

when troubles or disappointments come along, we are apt to feel 

forgotten by our Shepherd. We act as though He had fallen down 

on the job.

     Actually He is never asleep. He is never lax or careless. He

is never indifferent to our well-being. Our Shepherd always has

our best interests in mind.

     Because of this we are actually under obligation to be a

thankful, grateful, appreciative people. The New Testament

instructs us clearly to grasp the idea that the cup of our life

is full and overflowing with good, with the life of Christ

Himself and with the presence of His gracious Spirit. And 

because of this we should be joyous, grateful and serene.

     This is the overcoming Christian life. It is the life in

which a Christian can be content with whatever comes his way -

even trouble (Hebrews 13:5). Most of us are glad when things go

well. How many of us can give thanks and praise when things go

wrong? 

     Looking again at the round of the year through which the

sheep pass in the shepherd's care, we see summer moving into

autumn. Storms of sleet and hail and early snow begin to sweep

over the high country. Soon the flocks will be driven from the

alplands and tablelands. They will turn again toward the home

ranch for the long, quiet winter season.

     These autumn days can be golden under Indian summer weather.

The sheep have respite now from flies and insects and scab. No

other season finds them so fit and well and strong. No wonder

David wrote, "My cup runneth over."

     But at the same time, unexpected blizzards can blow up or

sleet storms suddenly shroud the hills. The flock and their owner

can pass through appalling suffering together.

     It is here that I grasp another aspect altogether of the

meaning of a cup at over flows. There is in every life a cup of

suffering. Jesus Christ referred to His agony in the Garden of

Gethsemane and at Calvary as His cup. And had it not overflowed

with His life poured out for men, we would have perished.

     In tending my sheep I carried a bottle in my pocket containing 

a mixture of brandy and water. Whenever a ewe or lamb was chilled 

from undue exposure to wet, cold weather I would pour a few 

spoonfuls down its throat. In a matter of minutes the chilled 

creature would be on its feet and full of renewed energy. It was 

especially cute the way the lambs would wiggle their tails with 

joyous excitement as the warmth from the brandy spread through 

their bodies.

     The important thing was for me to be there on time, to find

the frozen, chilled sheep before it was too late. I had to be in

the storm with them, alert to every one that was in distress.

Some of the most vivid memories of my sheep ranching days are

wrapped around the awful storms my flock and I went through

together. I can see again the gray-black banks of storm clouds

sweeping in off the sea; I can see the sleet and hail and snow

sweeping across the hills; I can see the sheep racing for shelter

in the tall timber; I can see them standing there soaked, chilled, 

and dejected. Especially the young lambs went through

appalling misery without the benefit of a full, heavy fleece to

protect them. Some would succumb and lie down in distress 

only  to become more cramped and chilled.

     Then it was that my mixture of brandy and water came to

their rescue. I'm sure the Palestinian shepherds must have

likewise shared their wine with their chilled and frozen sheep.

     What a picture of my Master, sharing the wine, the very life

blood of His own suffering from His overflowing cup, poured out

at Calvary for me. He is there with me in every storm. 

     My Shepherd is alert to every approaching disaster that threatens

His people. He has been through the storms of sufferings before.

He bore our sorrows and was acquainted with our grief.

     And now no matter what storms I face, His very life and

strength and vitality is poured into mine. It overflows so the

cup of my life runs over with His life . . . often with great blessing 

and benefit to others who see me stand up so well in the midst 

of trials and suffering.

                           .....................

To be continued