Keep Your Head Up. When we are the most tempted to panic and keep our focus on mounting problems and growing obstacles, that’s the precise moment we have to tear our gaze off our circumstances. But where are we to look?
Video Transcript (Video Below)
Hi and welcome back to daily Bible promises with a Twist. If you’re wondering what the twist is, click on the “I” up in the corner there and it will lead you to a playlist and the very first video in that playlist explains what the twist is. But let’s go for it.
Our verse today is Psalm 3:3. The Bible promise boxes are written in The New International Version. It says, “You, Lord, are a shield around me. My glory, the one who lifts my head high.” That’s Psalm 3 Verse 3. Now I’m going to read Psalm 3:3 in the NAS Bible.
I am just going to read that verse and then I’m going to put that verse into context right away. There are only eight verses in chapter 3 or in Psalm 3 and I’ll be reading the whole thing. “But thou O Lord are a shield about me, my glory, and the one who lifts my head.”
So let’s go back to the beginning. A Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom, his son. David is on the run. Absalom has staged a coup. He’s very charismatic and was able to convince the people that David was evil. Now David is running for his life and more troops are joining this hunt for him. So David is back in the cliffs again. He’s back up in the mountainous area, in the same area that he was when he was running away from Saul. At least he knew where the good hiding spots were. So imagine this. Now David is up on a mountain. He’s looking down at the plain below him and everywhere he looks he sees troops gathering and they’re not his troops. They’re troops that are against him. Verse one.
O Lord, how my adversaries have increased!
Many are rising up against me.
2 Many are saying of my soul,
“There is no deliverance for him in God.”
3 But You, O Lord, are a shield about me,
My glory, and the One who lifts my head.
4 I was crying to the Lord with my voice,
And He answered me from His holy mountain.
5 I lay down and slept;
I awoke, for the Lord sustains me.
6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people
Who have set themselves against me round about.
7 Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God!
For You have smitten all my enemies on the cheek;
You have shattered the teeth of the wicked.
8 Salvation belongs to the Lord;
Your blessing be upon Your people!
Let’s go back to verse 3. “But thou, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the one who lifts my head.”
I can imagine David sitting up on top of the cliff or sitting in the cliffs, looking down from his vantage point, seeing all those troops. And if I was in his shoes, I would be obsessed with sending out people to have a head count – just how many enemies are down there. But what the Lord does, He does the same thing that a loving parent does when their child is fixated on something that might be frightening or a real dangerous situation. That loving parent bends down, crouches in front of their child, and puts a finger underneath that child’s chin and gently lifts that chin so that the child is looking eye to eye with their parent. And the parent quietly reassures them that they are safe and they’ll be okay and that the parent will be their protector.
David was so convinced of God’s protection over him after God lifted his head so he was aware of God’s presence, that he lay down and slept. He knew that the Lord sustained him so “I lay down and slept.” And the next part is kind of like he’s telling everybody else, ‘And guess what? He did protect me.” “I awoke because the Lord sustained me.”
If you are in a really frightening scary place right now and you feel that your back as against though wall, allow the Lord to lift your head so you can see His face. He will give you His strategy on how he is going to work with you to defeat those adversaries that are coming against you.
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©2018 Katherine Walden
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