Taken from The Oil That Makes Glad by A. B. Saint
The book of Psalms, this wonderful book of praise, is also known as the National Hymnbook of Israel. It is a praise book indeed, a practical book and also a prophetic book. It is a book where history is unfolded before us, where help is sought for the present and where hope is in view for the future. I know myself, of many saints, whose lives, although difficult, have been encouraged along the way, just from reading the Psalms. There are those, we are told, who spend a whole lifetime, studying and preaching only from this book. Whether this is true or not of us, I should imagine each one of us have our own favourite psalms, and as the years have rolled along, Psalm 92, has proved to be a firm favourite of mine.
Although this Psalm was originally written for the Sabbath Day, we know it can be read and mediated upon and enjoyed, any day of the week. The Psalms are quoted many, many, times, over in the pages of the New Testament. Often when speaking about Himself, the Lord Jesus would refer to the book of Psalms. Over the centuries therefore, this book has become a well spring, a continual supply of blessing to many hearts, including, I have to say, my own.
David begins his psalm-song with praise and thanksgiving before the Most-High God, which at the start of anything is always a good thing to do. As we move on through the verses, we see him reflecting upon the wicked in the day and age in which he lived. He muses upon those who have absolutely no love for God and no heart for spiritual things at all, those that would even deny His very existence. Though they look upon the wonderful works of creation, their eyes seem to remain dimmed, and their hearts firmly shut towards the Lord. In their wilful ignorance, they are likened unto brute beasts which lack understanding. Yet, though they “spring as the grass,” he says, and even seem to “flourish,” the revelation he receives is that he knows their lives will be short lived, and their seeming prosperity one day will come to an end. He is assured therefore that God will right all wrongs in His own time.
There is an awful finality about the death of the wicked isn’t there? How we pray for those souls who are still in darkness and have not yet entered into the marvellous light of the glorious gospel, of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. How different to the blessed life of the saint of God, even with all the trials along the way. There are some who believe that all the blessings the Psalmist speaks of in this particular psalm, are for the Nation of Israel only, and that for future time, but surely they are for all the people of God?
For many years, I used to have a little bookmark in my bible which said this: “God never doles out His blossoms grudgingly,” and in my own life I have proved this to be true over and over again. In reference to this very thought, someone once said this, “With Him the calf is always the fatted calf, the robe is always the best robe, the joy is unspeakable and the peace passes understanding. There is no grudging in God’s Goodness by drops like a pharmacist filling a prescription, rather it comes to us in floods.”
In verse 10 David says, “But my horn shalt Thou exalt like the horn of a unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil.” To what is the horn referring? Horns in Scripture symbolize prosperity and power, and authority. Is this not the positioning of the people of God? Are we not kings and priests unto Him? Has He not given us power over all our enemies? I never ever read this Psalm without taking it personally. I never read about the flow of the oil without the sense of it being a picture of an overflowing source, a surplus, a liberal outpouring, a super abundance in it all, something which is so joyous and so pleasing.
I also love the sense that the Psalmist is secure in the thought, that his lot, his life, will overflow daily with fresh, nourishing, green virgin oil, nothing having been boiled away in the process. That he will live in the joy and gladness of the Lord his God all the days of his life. He writes with the thought in mind, that he, an ancient Israelite, has been invited to a feast, and the host, according to custom, anoints all his guests with oil upon the head, which when it trickles down, makes the face to shine.
Does not the writer of the book of Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 9, quoting from Psalm 45 and verse 7, tell us that even Christ Himself was anointed with the Oil of gladness, above His fellows? Oh, the necessity for the application of fresh oil, daily visitations of the Holy Spirit. Life can become so stale without the Refreshing, Reviving Work, of the Holy Ghost and is joy not one of the fruits of the Spirit?
Finally, David rounds off his Psalm by likening the Righteous to the Date Palm Tree and to the Cedar Tree. Both of these trees are very different in appearance and in their usage. One of them grows in the desert wastes where the soil is very sandy, and the other grows high upon the mountain ranges, but notice, the Psalmist particularly points out that both of them are flourishing. The Date Palm has the disadvantage of poor, barren soil, where little else can grow, and the Cedars of Lebanon have to deal at times with cold, icy blasts.
This flourishing which he sings about, is not that which will bring us quickly to an untimely end, as the wicked, but rather it is the picture of an ever-present state of joyous wellbeing, which in its culmination ends for us in Glory. His usage of the words ‘fat and flourishing,’ is not speaking about excess weight, but rather is to be understood in a spiritual way. Verse 13 tells us that we have been Planted in the House of the Lord, but this statement means much more than us just being planted ‘in Church.’
No matter how joyous the coming together of like-minded saints of God is, the emphasis for the Church today, is more on us being ‘in Christ.’ It is Christ who Saves us and positions us, sometimes even in the most adverse circumstances, but if we continually abide in Him so that our roots go very deep, and if we learn to draw from Him, we, like the afore-mentioned trees, shall be evergreen and we shall bear much fruit for His Praise and Glory. The Palm Tree is the symbol of Victory and Rejoicing and the Cedar of Lebanon is the symbol of Longevity.
Are you believing for good things in your old age? Do you take the same stance as the Psalmist?
LIFE ON THE ALTAR 