Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–
November 29– Evening
by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff
“[Among the contributions to the Tabernacle were] “spices for anointing oil.'”
—Exodus 35:8
Much use was made of anointing oil under the Old Testament Law, and it represents something of great importance to us who live under the Gospel. The Holy Spirit, who anoints us for all holy service, is indispensable to our success in serving the Lord acceptably. Without his aid, our religious services are but empty sacrifices, and our inward experiences are nothing more than dead things. Whenever our ministry is without holy, God-enabled passion, what miserable stuff it becomes! Prayers, praises, meditations, and works of all kinds— without the Spirit— are but miserable things.
A holy anointing is the soul and life of true faithfulness. Its absence is the most grievous of all calamities. To go before the Lord without his anointing is to act like a common Levite who had thrust himself into the priest’s office; his ministrations would be counted as sins, not service.
May we never venture upon holy activities without sacred anointings. They drop upon us from our glorious Head, the Lord Jesus; as he was anointed with holy oil, we who are the members of his body, clothed in his garments, receive the drippings of his holy passion.
Choice spices were crushed and mixed with great care to produce the anointing oil, and this shows us how rich all the influences of the Holy Spirit are to us. All good things are found in the divine Comforter. Matchless consolation, infallible instruction, resurrection power, spiritual energy, holy transformation, and other excellencies make up the heavenly anointing oil of the Holy Spirit. That oil conveys a delightful fragrance to the character and person upon whom it is poured. Nothing like it can be found in all the houses of the rich or the secrets of the wise. It is not to be imitated. It comes alone from God, and it is freely given, through Jesus Christ, to every waiting soul. Let us seek it, for we may have it this very evening. O Lord, anoint your servants! [M&E]
