The Grateful Heart
You anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over.
Psalm 23:5
The nature of this psalm is thanksgiving erupting from a grateful heart. The Spirit has given the psalmist David the repose and perspective to compare his life to a sheep, and the Lord to a shepherd, and he has come to the conclusion that the Lord has provided all that he needed and even more.
There are no complaints made, nor requests either. From the beginning to the end it is filled with gratitude that the Lord is like a shepherd who has looked ahead of what his sheep needs and provided food, water, protection, and life in abundance. He finds no cause to accuse God for His silence, nor erupt in feelings of abandonment, nor complain bitterly that He had seemingly provided the less deserving with more than he had received — all of which are expressed fully elsewhere in the Psalms. Here he paused with a joyous recognition of the abundance of God’s supply to himself, and his gratitude, as it should, prepared him to face the future with confidence.
We can hardly overestimate the power of gratitude to bless the one who holds it in his heart. Ingratitude is a curse. The inability to see the hand of God all around us, His gracious love poured out in so many ways, disturbs the spirit. The depressed, the dour, the sad, the cynical, the unbeliever has no one to thank, and therefore, no one to trust for the future. We believers, on the other hand, see the hand of God all around us, and the marks of our Good Shepherd’s love poured out upon us, around us, and within us. So every day is hopeful; every night is restful.
In the statements of anointing with oil and the running over cup, I believe that David has left the image of the sheep and shepherd, for the sheep has no cup to call his own. Some believe that he is referencing God’s divine plan for him as head of the nation, recalling his own anointing by Samuel (1 Samuel 16:1–13). Having been taken from the tending the sheep to appear before Samuel, if this is the interpretation, the image is profound.
Rather than writing a psalm about the Good Shepherd, David could have complained that his father Jesse had put his brothers ahead of him, leaving him out of the search by Samuel for the next king, assigning him the task as the youngest son to tend the sheep. David could have written a psalm that smacked somewhat of pride for having been chosen by God, casting poor motives upon his father, pointing out how he was chosen by God and anointed by Samuel despite being forgotten and put to sheep tending by Jesse. But it was Asaph who wrote that psalm (Psalm 78:70–72) and not David.
David instead exalted the Lord and did not denigrate the fine work of shepherding, despising it as inferior labor compared to being king. Rather he cast God in the role of the Good Shepherd, and cast himself even lower still, to the role of a sheep. Yet he was content to only be a sheep in God’s pasture, there was nothing inferior to be received in the family of God. And we may assume that this also reflected positively upon the entire family of Jesse, that David was assigned to tending sheep the day that Samuel visited not as a rejection but simply because someone had to do the job.
David did not say that God took the shepherd and made him king — though that was true — rather he said God took the sheep and poured on him abundant blessings. That David saw himself first as a simple member of the flock of God is the genius of his faith and the appeal of this psalm to every believer. This is an image for all who have trusted in Christ.
The anointing with oil was an emblem of the anointing of the Holy Spirit that God pours out abundantly on every believer. 1 John 2:20, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One and all of you know the truth.” The Spirit comes upon us and within us who believe in Christ, and He leads us to God’s truth, He moves in our lives, He draws us to His own heart, and fills us with Himself. “My cup runs over” provides an image of the fullness of the Spirit.
Here is an important message for all of us in Christian leadership, that we see ourselves first and foremost as a simple sheep in the flock of God. When His disciples saw a tremendous response to their ministry, Christ warned them, “Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20).
If the anointing points to anyone special it is to Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, and it anticipates His vindication, glorification, and complete victory over all that oppose Him. There is in these words a Messianic perspective, that the One anointed by God to rule and reign, “Must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet” (1 Cor. 15:25). His cup runs over in praise, victory, and the blessings also are poured out on his people.
The grateful heart rejoices fully in the faithfulness of God to His people. It rests in Him and in so doing expects greater things for the future. Is this your heart today? Have you stopped to consider the fulness of the grace of God toward you? That He fully forgives and intends to fully bless you? Thanksgiving leads us to hope and confidence. God is good to those who trust in Him. In this reality we believe and live and rejoice. Like the simplest sheep toward his shepherd, the work of God often seems inscrutable to us, but we can still trust in Him and rest from our worry and panicky, worrisome labor. Now we work in confidence and faith and fulness of heart … and gratitude.
