I've been asking our radio audience to memorize the 23rd Psalm as we go through it, if they have not already done so. To help you remember the part that we're going to do today, Thou knowest my head with oil, just picture a sheep with some flies buzzing around its nose. Now, if you've been learning 23rd Psalm with me, let's say it together before we look at the meaning of Thou knowest my head with oil. We'll say it up to that portion of the twenty-third Psalm. Are you ready? The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth 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 thou art with me. By rod and by staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil." A little girl was sent to the grocery store by her mother to buy ten cents' worth of an item called chloride of lime. The little girl forgot what she was sent for, and she got to the store and she asked the clerk for ten cents' worth of Of course, there is no such thing as glory divine stock in the grocery store, but it is something that every one of God's children really need, and when they have it, they treasure. For glory divine is that ointment or that element that God uses to bring rest to a restless mind and to bring calm to a fearful mind. and to settle our nerves when we seemingly go out of control. We need what that little girl asked for. We need some special glory divine. Now, there is nothing so refreshing to an upset mind of a believer as just plain old glory, the goodness, the joyfulness, the cheerfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some folks call glory divine heaven's hallelujah tonic. Now, the shepherd was, in a sense, obligated to bring some glory or refreshment or some ease to his sheep. Some glory divine was in his possession. The summertime was especially a hard time for sheep. It was a time when there was a lot of flies in the air. some of which were very dangerous to the sheep. In other words, these flies became a real annoyance to the sheep, for hordes of these flies would fly over a field where the sheep were grazing, and they would swarm upon the sheep, especially buzzing around their head. Now, you know how annoying a gnat can be that flies around and around and around your face. It gets on our nerves, it makes our patience try, and it's very difficult for us to stay calm when there's a little gnat that just keeps buzzing as we keep trying to squat at it. And so these insects would swarm around the heads of the sheep, and especially there were a type of fly that would attempt to light on the nose of the sheep, for this was a moist area, and this fly would lay its eggs in the moist area of that sheep's nose and if those eggs were allowed to hatch then within a few days the hatched insects would go up into the head of the sheep and then cause great irritation. The only thing the sheep could do then and you would see sheep doing this that they would beat their heads against trees, or they would beat their heads against the rock, or they would just shake their heads continually, or they would continually rub their heads on the ground. So the shepherd knew that when summertime came, there would be these particular kinds of flies that would really annoy his sheep by trying to light on their nose. And so when these flies would come near, the shepherd would immediately begin to sense a real need to anoint the sheep's heads with oil. Now, the sheep would use every means they knew how to escape the flies. For one thing, when the flies came, they would run. That is, they would try to run away from where the flies were, and sometimes they would run till they just fell from pure exhaustion. Others would just keep shaking their heads up and down and sideways, of course, then not being able to graze. and not being able to rest, they would do this until they gave out. Some would just run off and try to hide in the brush or hide in the woods in hopes that the flies would not come there and find them. So the shepherd knew that when the flies began to swarm around the heads of his sheep, that he would have to anoint the sheep with oil. There would be no other way to keep the flies away. So what he would do, he would take some oil and mix with it some sulfur, and then rubbed this on the sheep's head. That's what is known as anointing their head with oil. After this was done, the flies seemingly were annoyed by both the oil and the sulfur smell, and therefore would not like on the head of the sheep. When this was done, the sheep were no longer annoyed, and thereby again could settle down to graze and could again have rest. But their behavior completely changed. In a sense, they just went out of control when the flies were buzzing around their heads. Now, we, a lot of times, just like the sheep, there are certain things that really can drive us up the wall or, so to speak, bug us, really get us down, and cause us to really go out of control. We become frantic over petty annoyances. You'll sometimes see somebody racing down the street, and all that's wrong with them is they're trying to outrun some kind of fly. You've got the temper fly, or you've got the disappointment fly, or you have the envy fly, or the lust fly, or the pride fly, or the impatient fly, or the jealous fly, or the lazy fly, or the revenge fly. We could go on and on and on with certain kinds of things that take place that really calls us to lose, as the sheep would, their cool and collective calm nature. These things buzz around our heads as Christians, almost daily, sometimes even hourly. And once these flies buzz around our heads, unless somehow the Lord is able to anoint us with oil and calm us down, we begin to act not like sheep that are beside the Lord, And by the Lord, we act like sheep that are a little bit on the crazy side. People begin to wonder, well, I thought he was a Christian. And this is something that happens, I believe, to a lot of God's people. The little annoying flies that buzz in during the daytime destroy their testimony. I'd like to read to you two items that I found in a magazine. One says this, Our home is about to be broken up. My husband says he is called to preach. and he does preach occasionally when he is invited by some church. But I am about to lose my mind. He fusses, criticizes, and keeps everybody in an uproar. We are all afraid of him. It is like being in prison. What can we do?" Another question from someone who was having a like-minded problem. My father says that he is a Christian, but every time something doesn't go his way he gets mad. and takes his spite out on one of the family. He gets terribly mad and says terrible things. I'm afraid one of us will have a nervous breakdown. Is there anything I could do to help him or stop him from doing this way? This is serious. It is so hard to be a Christian under such circumstances." There is a question, we say, to be asked here. What can we do? about ourselves, if we begin to react like these stories tell of these people, what can we do when common occurrences or common annoyances begin to get to us? Now, if the only thing we can do, as the 23rd Psalm points out, is not run, not try to deal with these flies on our own, not to climb the wall or beat our head against the rock or fly into a frenzy or become angry and run, The only thing we can do is come to the shepherd and ask the shepherd to anoint us, the head area, the mind area, with oil. In other words, we need temporary relief for irritation, daily irritation. So that brings us to the definition of our 23rd Psalm portion this morning. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want for relief. That is, relief from temporary irritation. And how often do you and I need this kind of relief? As often as we need it. The Lord Jesus Christ says, I have provided oil anointing for your head to handle these situations when they arise. Now, you probably know that in the Bible, oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, God the Spirit. And what we have today hearing a lot of is people saying, well, what you need to be is anointed by the Holy Spirit. Well, that's true. But they think in terms of one anointing, and that's not true. We need to be anointed not just when we are saved, but we need to be anointed daily by the Holy Spirit's power and influence in our lives. When we come under attack from these troublesome times or these things that seemingly bug us, We have a troubled mind, and therefore we need the anointing of the Holy Spirit to calm us down and drive away these things that are trying to bug us. We cannot cope with annoying things, but we can have the Holy Spirit, by anointing us afresh, drive these bugs or these problems or these circumstances away from us for the time being. Now, the Holy Spirit can handle those things that upset us. The things that get us to run in a frenzy are things that make us act frantic and do things that we are later sorry we have done. Outside disturbances and forces are things that are to be controlled by the Holy Spirit, and he does this by anointing us afresh when we need that treatment. Little things do not have to drive us to despair. They do not have to mar our holy walk. They do not have to wreck our testimony. They do not have to bring us shame and embarrassment. They do not have to force us to a position where we have to come and say, God, I fouled up again. I'm sorry. I acted like I should not have done so. Little things do not have to drive us to despair. Little gnats do not have to cause you to lose your Christian testimony. Let me give you an illustration of another story that I read where a minister who was going to speak during that day at a conference got up late because his alarm clock failed to ring. Well, immediately that annoyed him because he realized he would not be able to get to the meeting on time. So immediately he jumped up and ran to the bathroom and began to shave. Being in a hurry, he cut himself. Well, that slowed him down, and that upset him even that much more. Then he went to get his dress shirt, and all of a sudden he noticed that the button underneath the collar was gone. Again, he was bugged or further irritated by just one more whine. As he rushed out the door after finally getting the shirt patched, he noticed that he had a flat tire. That almost completely ruined his day. And he was really in a turmoil. He was, in a sense, beating his head against everything he could find. So he jumped in the car after finally getting the tire fixed and was racing towards the meeting. Well, you can guess what happened next. He ran through a stop sign and there was a policeman who saw him do this and took in after him, finally caught up with him and pulled him over. And the man, now this is the minister, jumped out of the car being very agitated, very disturbed, and just sharply said to the policeman, Well, go ahead and give me a ticket. Everything else has gone wrong this morning. The policeman calmly walked up to the man and said to him, Sir, I used to have days like that, but then I've become a Christian and Christ has changed my whole life. Now, that was really a slam for a minister. who, of course, had to admit that the man was right, and he was embarrassed, that he allowed the various bugs to get to him, and he had to end up by telling God he was sorry for the way he had acted. Now, it's not difficult for us when circumstances try us, when things don't go right, to find our mind becoming more and more annoyed by the various things that upset us. things that begin to get out of control. Now, in Hebrews 1-9, the expression is given that we are anointed with the oil of gladness. If there's anything that you'll lose when you are annoyed by the little bugs that come around you that you can't stand, you'll lose gladness. You'll lose your peace. You'll lose your joy. You'll lose your calm. And so we need to have this anointing with the oil of gladness in our hearts. Now, our life is not going to run on a smooth course where there will not be clocks that won't go off when they should, where there won't be flat tires. Life is just not going to take place where nothing will ever happen that would normally annoy you. There will be little things that come up that will irritate, that will attempt to rob you of your joy and of your peace. And when this happens, you should remember the Holy Spirit has been provided to anoint you with the oil that will bring unto you gladness and joy once again. Whenever you find the circumstances beginning to try you, whenever you begin to see the flies buzzing, whenever you realize your cool is about to go out the window, That is time to come to the shepherd and say, Jesus, I need once more an anointing of gladness by thy Holy Spirit. Would you please take over this situation? Would you oil me, calm me, and take the bugs away that are trying to destroy my joy in you? Now, this is something that Christ wants to do. Any shepherd knows he cannot just play around when the bugs fly in. He has to act quickly or all of his sheep will end up with diseased heads. So the Lord is very concerned about your mind. You don't have to beg him to anoint you with oil. He is eager to do so. The only thing he wants you to do is to come and ask him to do it. The sheep must cooperate with the shepherd before he can put the oil upon their heads. Now the Lord wants to do this. This is part of his shepherding duties. He wants to deal with the little irritations that normally drive us up the wall. And he wants to deal with these the very second or the very minute that they begin to swarm into your presence. The second, the very second, the very moment that you sense that the temper fly is buzzing around your mind, That's the moment that you need to call for the fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit. When little things begin to get to you, that's the moment, right then. Don't let the little old thing lie. Don't let the little old thing bite you. Don't let the little old thing ruin your testimony. Call for the anointing before this irritation has a chance to do its dirty work. You see, emotions don't take long to flare up. It only takes a second before it's too late to make a decision to call upon the Holy Spirit to anoint you with oil. You can develop a terrible disposition in a matter of one or two seconds. If somebody cuts in front of you on the freeway, it just takes a matter of one or two seconds before the fly has come, the fly has lit, the fly has bit, and you're already infected. So we need to act quickly when we sense these irritating things coming around us that would normally make us crabby, make us cranky. Things at the drop of a hat are going to upset us at that very moment. Call upon Christ your shepherd. I need a fresh anointing of thy joy of the Holy Spirit. Now the shepherd is still at instant anointing. That's one of the great powers of our Holy Spirit, is that he can do an anointing job in the shortest amount of time imaginable. He's very good at this. Oh, what peace we often forfeit, the psalm goes. Oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. And I'd like to add, that's true, but if you do it, in time. You only have a little bit of time to deal with the flies that irritate you. And so when things begin to annoy, don't wait a minute or two minutes or three minutes. For if you do that, you'll be banging your head against the walls and running to the woods and throwing up your hands in disgust and losing your testimony. Act immediately when you sense the flies threatening your peace and your joy. You react towards these things as you would to a housefly that tries to light on the food you're eating. You know how quickly you swing that hand. You react almost as quickly as you would to take your foot off the gas pedal and put it on the brake pedal and make an urgency stop. That's just how quick we need to react when we are endangered by things that will annoy us and cause us to lose our Christian witness. Nothing can destroy your peace and the peace of everybody else around you like being driven to and fro by little tensions that should never be allowed to get you down. A small spiritual skirmish can leave you deflated for a day, sometimes for a week. We must, as God's sheep, realize this privilege that we have to call upon the Holy Spirit the very moment of our trial and ask Him to anoint us with the oil of gladness, ask Him to drive away these things that are trying to upset us. The Holy Spirit is still accomplishing this feat. And you know it doesn't take much to really bug us. Just hit something and crack your thumbnail. That's enough. Or if somebody calls and it's the wrong number. Or if you go to pull out a dresser drawer and it sticks. Or if you go to get a tube and it's missing. Or if you get in your car and notice that somebody has parked next to you and opened their door and scratched your paint. Or if you're at a dinner table and some child just accidentally knocks over the... Or if you're tying your shoe and the shoestring breaks before you get it tied. These little minute flies, these little irritations can cause us to go into a tailspin and run off in a wild frenzy. These kind of little tensions cannot be solved. We will be bothered by such things, but the Holy Spirit can be called and He can deal with things in the valley, and you won't have peace on the mountaintop either. You won't have peace at home or peace at work or peace at play as long as you allow these little varmints to buzz around you and to destroy the faith and the peace that God wants to give you. Now, the solution, again, is always be anointed, be controlled, be refreshed by the Holy Spirit. Draw the Holy Spirit into this situation. In 1 John 4, 4, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. You do not have to be under control of these little flies. You can ask the Holy Spirit to control them for you. You can be set free. Galatians 5, verse 1, "...stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free." And I might add, not only free from the penalty of sin, but we are free from the annoyance of daily sin. It is important for us to remember. And do not be entangled again in Galatians 5, verse 1, with the yoke of bondage. Let me say, it will surprise you how quickly the Holy Spirit has the right oil solution to drive away those things that annoy you so much. He can calm the waters in your life long before the waves ever begin to pitch and pulse in your mind. The Holy Spirit has great power to be used for this purpose. You belong to Christ. And Christ says he wants your head to be kept clear at all times of outside, irritating infestations. Satan can't have your heart. God made that for him. He gave you a new heart, pure heart, the Bible says, when you were born again. Satan can't have your heart. And so, therefore, he settles for your head. He settles for your mind. He wants to suggest things or do things that will cause your mind to lose the peace that it has with God. Romans 7, 23, I find, said Paul, there is another power operating in my mind which wars against the laws of Christ, which attempts to make me a captive to sin once again. Now, the Holy Spirit promises that he will enable our mind to deal with all of these by things that would normally upset us. 2 Corinthians 10, 4 and 5, the weapons of our warfare are mighty through God. Notice, not mighty through yourself, but mighty through God. To the pulling down of strongholds, to casting down imaginations through God, these imaginations that stir us up are cast down, and we bring into captivity every thought whereby we can remain obedient to Christ. In other words, Ephesians 4, 22 and 23, put off the old man which is corrupt and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. The Holy Spirit is the oil sweetener who can make your disposition fragrant and pleasing, not only to you, but to your husband and your wife and your children and all those that you are around. No one will ever have to write a request letter to someone else, what can I do with my Christian father or Christian mate, because he loses his temper or he acts so contrary when things don't go right. My Christian friends, we have an anointing of the Holy Spirit to deal with the daily annoyances of our lives. We can have, as that little girl said, some glory divine. 2 Corinthians 3.17, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. We hope this day that you have understood how you are to gain liberty from the flies of irritations that normally really ruin your everyday life and walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. May God bless you. And God's blood may stream Beside the still waters of thee. Beside the still waters, the sheep find their rest. The shepherd fends by toll that none can hold fast. The cloud-climbing bread-man is happy and rest. Beside the still waters, the sheep The sheep know His voice, and they go on a-praying, For Jesus to guide all the way. In heaven, O Christ the Lord, in each day by day, He rises in the wonder of things.