“But you, O Lord, are a shield about me,
My glory, and the One who lifts my head.”
– Psalm 3:3
Recently I saw a post on social media with the caption, “Leaders do not put others down; they lift them up.” The picture with the caption was a scene from Star Wars with Darth Vader holding a man off the ground by his throat. The irony between the text and graphic is chuckle-worthy, for sure. It reminds me, though, of the very real predicament of the psalmist. Psalm 3 comes from the heart of David, whose adversaries were literally looking to get their hands on his throat.
David’s son Absolom raised serious opposition to David (see 2 Samuel 15). It would seem that the opposition was so significant that some believed David was beyond even God’s help. We can safely assume this wasn’t a season in David’s life when his head would be held high. Unless, of course, he looked to God in his time of need. And this is where the psalm leads. “But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the One who lifts my head.”
The popular streaming show called The Chosen offers dramatic expressions that are deeply moving. One of the things I have noticed more than once is that Jesus, when encountering someone whose head is held low, insists that they look up. You can even picture him with his hand under a chin, gently lifting the head, turning the eyes away from the ground and toward his merciful face. To the oppressed, the grief-stricken, the ashamed, and all whose heads are hung low, Jesus says, “Look up at me.”
There are times when our heads may tend to hang. It may come through unfortunate circumstances beyond our control, or it may be directly related to our own failures. Regardless of the why, we have all been there. If you are in a season of “head held low,” I invite you to look up to Jesus. He is a lifter of heads, compassionate and merciful, able to restore within you the joy of divine presence.
The Winding Path 