The Oil of Gladness

Believers speak about being happy. They struggle strenuously to be happy at their meetings. Nevertheless, the rush of enthusiasm they attain to is nothing but a foam spray that lasts as long as one or several of them can spray water. In contrast to this there is an anointing with the oil of gladness which is like sinking into deep water, a sinking into God’s love.

You do not receive this oil of gladness by shouting for it during an evening meeting, but by rejecting the evil and choosing the good. Heb. 1:9. Read this scripture carefully and test your life. Have you found the way of the cross? If so, then you have also come to the fountain of the oil of gladness. Every time you have rejected the evil you see in you and have chosen the good, this oil of gladness will flow down into you, and your entire inner man will quiver with love. You are being anointed with the oil of gladness. It is God who anoints you with this oil. How God must love righteousness when He rewards it in this way. If I continually hate unrighteousness and love righteousness, God will continually anoint me with this wonderful oil. God does this all day long.

Many waters cannot quench love. S. of Sol. 8:7. This is the state of a person who truly walks on the way of the cross. It is the reward for faithfulness!

Such a person would only lose oil if he were to call out for joy at meetings.

If a person does not live a God-fearing life during the day, he will constantly call out for joy during the meeting, and he will also receive it; but it is only a drop with which to refresh the tip of his tongue—compared to the anointing with the oil of gladness.