By Karen Biggs, St. John Stephen Minister
Psalm 23:
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
After my husband died, I read, re-read, memorized, and recited this beautiful psalm over and over. It is a core passage that has given me great comfort. It is the most famous of psalms. Today verse 5 pings in my head: “You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.” David, king of ancient Israel & Judah, who wrote this psalm, really did have his head anointed with oil by Samuel the prophet. So, perhaps this line was an autobiographical record of sort. Anointing with oil had multiple purposes over time: it was to consecrate or make something holy (like the items in the tabernacle), used to dedicate priests into the priesthood, as a symbol of purification or appointment, to bestow honor on someone, or to use symbolically in the healing of the sick (Mark 6:13).
All these are intriguing to me since we rarely anoint anything today. So, why even bother exploring it? Well, David throughout this psalm is expressing God’s loving involvement in his life. David is astonished and follows with, “my cup runs over.” David was the youngest of 8 brothers and a humble shepherd boy. He wasn’t all that special by appearances, but that didn’t matter to God. God worked mightily in David’s life. God’s anointing of David changed everything for him, and David marveled at the lavish goodness of God. May we also see God’s anointing in our own lives — His healing touch and the special appointment we each have in this world — and wonder at God’s extravagant blessings which overflow our cups even in the darkest of days.
My Cup Runs Over
By Karen Biggs
You anoint my head with oil
Tho I am a noble nobody
A debtor to the n-th degree
An utterly unlikely honoree
You anoint my head with oil
So tenderly you bless me
Your hands loosen and set free
Liberty from my Judas tree
You anoint my head with oil
You send me on mission
On a love-share expedition
A Maker-human coalition.
You anoint my head with oil
Healing fire fills my veins
Your love washes and rains
Cleansing soul-soaked stains
My cup runs over
Flooded with Your favor
A Niagara grace-saver
Bubble up, brew and billow
No more the weeping willow
My cup runs over