The Oiling Process

Ecclesiastes 9 says Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do.  Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil.

I have a cast iron skillet and I did the unthinkable – I washed it with soap.  Of course the well-seasoned skillet was now damaged and full of crevices that collected food that stuck.  Ugh!

I looked up how to re-season a skillet once it's “ruined” and the process is quite laborious and long, but it’s doable.  In fact, as I sit here writing this devo my skillet is in the oven, rubbed with oil, baking its way to non-stick status once again.

This verse instructs us to eat and enjoy life with a joyful heart – because God approves of us!  It then says to always be clothed in white and anoint our head with oil.

Well there you have it.  We are like that skillet I own.  Food cooked in a well-seasoned cast iron skillet is awesome.  But when it gets dirtied up or misused, it takes oil to restore.  Isn’t that a cool analogy?

So if you feel a bit dingy from the world and the hardships of life, God is standing right there approving you!  Just pick up his cloak of righteousness, rub yourself with the oil of joy, and bake in the oven of his love.

The baking process sometimes takes a while, and the oil has to be rubbed on more than once, but the skillet is good as new when the process is complete!