The Oil of Gladness

You love righteousness and hate wickedness. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows. (Psalm 45:7)

Ps. 45 and 34:15; Isa. 3:10; Hos. 10:12; Matt. 6:33; Rom. 8:28

What Is God Saying?

The 45th Psalm is an example of a poet's praise for a king about to be married, a psalm of hope for a king. Scholars often identify the prophetic subject of the psalm as Jesus—He is the fairest of the sons of men (vs. 2); His is the divine throne that endures forever (vs. 6); His is the name to be celebrated in all generations (vs. 17). But the psalmist sang of King Ahab, who began to hate righteousness and love wickedness.

How Does This Apply To Us?

Jesus loved righteousness. He knew it to be the only road to happiness. He taught righteousness. "Seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well." (Mt. 6:33) He calls us to the love of righteousness by his example and words. Jesus hates wickedness. He hated it when Satan suggested an easy way out in the time of temptation. He denounced it wherever He saw it and did so when it might have been easier to look the other way. He died to bring down the kingdom of evil. He will come again to send it finally and forever into oblivion. If we were to be like the King, we must hate wickedness. The battle is joined, but victory is assured, and right now, before the end, and to the end, we will be anointed with the oil of gladness.

Pray With Me

O God, Your ways and Your thoughts are always right. Your plan for our lives leads to the gladness of victory. Help me, therefore, to love the right and hate the wrong. I profess to love that which is good, and in my heart, I genuinely want that which is good, but to my sorrow and shame, I have not always hated that which is not good. I know that if any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Nevertheless, I have allowed myself to accept and even seek a compromise.

My heart has been closed to those sweet influences that can turn my life toward complete salvation, peace, and gladness. I have failed to realize that only the pure in my heart can see God and experience eternal and unfading joy. I have failed to recognize that satisfaction is only in the love of righteousness. All that makes the love of righteousness and the hatred of wickedness seem out of focus and unimportant has the seal of death.

Lord, possess my heart. I ask that you anoint me with the oil of gladness so I will never falter. Defend me from doubt, from wondering if the love of wickedness is really all that bad. Strengthen me and make me sensitive to the lasting joys that surround all those who love righteousness and hate wickedness in Your justice and mercy.

In the name of Him who died because love of righteousness and hatred of wickedness are eternally right. Amen.

Moving On In The Life of Prayer

We often agonize in prayer, puzzled by unanswered prayers, frustrated by plans and dreams that go awry, and troubled that problems, our own and others, are not more quickly solved.

But when, in prayer, we are privileged to enter the king's palace, it is a reason for joy and gladness. Gladness because we are in his presence. Joy because we know that God works for good with those who love him in everything, the greatest of problems, or the heaviest of burdens. (Rom. 8:28)

The King's Palace! In prayer, we are shut in but never shut out. Could there be a better reason for joy and gladness?