The Lifter of My Head

Oct 22 2011

I was bathing Oscar the other day and that dog was covered in soapy suds. When I started rinsing him off, he did what all dogs do (and kids for that matter). He put his head down so that the soap was running down his face. I had to lift his head so that I could rinse the soap away. Our babies do that, too. We always have to remind them to look up, so the soap doesn't run down their faces and get in their eyes.

We're like that, too. When the muck starts to pile up on us and the stress begins to sting, we tend to get dragged down. We hang our heads under the pressure. But the answer is not to hang our heads down. That just makes it worse. When we do that, the sting gets in our eyes and begins to cloud our vision.

In Psalm 3:3, David says, "But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter of my head." The most amazing thing about this verse is that it came at a time when David was being chased down by is enemies and looked as if he didn't stand a chance against them. Talk about stress! These weren't just "feel good" words. These words were a cry to God. They were claiming a promise. David was saying, "Everything looks horrible. It looks impossible for me. But God, You are greater than my circumstances. You are greater than my enemies. And You have promised not only to see me through this situation, but to bring me out greater than I was going in to it. I can't lift my head, God, so you're going to have to do it."

Sometimes, we can't seem to lift our heads. We can't seem to look away from the stress and trouble that we are going through. But if we stay in that frame of mind, the stress just gets greater and greater. And just like soap stinging and eyes and clouding our vision, we can no longer see where God is leading us. We're too consumed with where we are. That's when you have to claim a promise. You have to do like David and say, "lift my head, God, cause I don't think I can do it on my own." He is the lifter of our heads. He's saying to you right now, "Look up high. Look at me. I'm going to see you through this and lead you to greatness. Look up and let me rinse this away."

Trust Him today. Don't look at where you are, look at where you are going.

Look up!

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