Psalm 45:7-9 - May 21, 2009

Ps 45:7-9 "You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. 8 All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; from palaces adorned with ivory the music of the strings makes you glad. 9 Daughters of kings are among your honored women; at your right hand is the royal bride in gold of Ophir." NIV

In 2 Chron 16:9 the Lord instructs us in a powerful principle concerning himself as He declares through the prophet “the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” The Lord is looking for a certain kind of life, a certain kind of heart so that He can display His strength through that life. In every story of the bible God finds a man or a woman in whom He can show himself as the awesome God! It is the desire of God to put His power and majesty, His wonder and mystery on display before all men. He is simply looking for people through whom He can make such a display, people whose hearts’ reflect Him in such a way that when He empowers them He is endorsing character and passion that reveal His true nature not a distorted understanding of who God is. This is a small portion of the concept behind the words of Jesus when He said “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.”
Set apart above his companions! This is the status of the one whose heart has captured the Lord’s attention. Look now at how God has chosen to set him above; an anointing of joy! Not wealth, not wisdom, not even power, but joy! God has touched the life of His servant with an anointing of joy that has caused him to rise above his companions. What a powerful reflection of the path to favor. Think of how people respond to someone who is truly joyful. Think of how you feel when you are around someone with true gladness in their hearts, who isn’t depressed and melancholy. Did you ever think that God can touch your heart and help you to walk in joy? This is how he blesses a life. Favor comes upon people when their life touches the heart of another life and so God places a deep anointing of joyful contentment on those whom He wants to bless. This countenance opens doors of favor to the right and to the left.
Think of the language of the next portion of this psalm. “All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.” Now imagine your life clothed in a sweet smelling fragrance that is pleasing to all who come near. This is how God brings about His blessing. He causes your life to carry the aroma of His presence as you wait on Him and live righteously before Him. A life force radiates from the person whom the Lord anoints. The woman was healed when she touched Jesus with faith and He stated that he felt virtue flow out of Him. In the life of Peter people placed their sick where Peter’s shadow could fall upon them and some were healed. For Paul he testifies in 2 Cor 2:14-16 “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.” For those who love what the Lord loves He leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ! Imagine, we are anointed with “the fragrance of life”! Set yourself apart unto God today and let Him anoint you with this fragrance so that you can spread the knowledge of Jesus in everything that you do!