When I was a kid, I think one the sappiest commercials I saw was a Vicks commercial of a mother rubbing Vicks Vaporub on a sick little child laying in bed as he looks up at her. It was a quite picturesque image of a great motherly act of care and concern for the ailing child whom she loves. The selling point of the commercial was the implied message that seemed to suggest, “if you were a good mom, you would buy our product and do the same for your ailing child.” (too be honest, my mom did...only for me to later discover that the stuff burned and smelled terrible)
.:Whenever I read Psalm 23, I would never really think about the weight of what it meant for God—the sovereign ruler of the universe—to anoint my head with oil (v.5). But, what if the image of God’s anointing was not too distant an image in comparison with the image of the Vicks-mom rubbing ointment on her sickly child? What if anointing my head with oil, was the picture of a great and loving Father/Mother/Friend/Lover/SHEPHERD picking up an injured lamb in his strong arms, pouring out the flask of oil, and nursing the wounded creature with a love formidable to that of a caring and concerned mother?
