“…You bestow glory on me and lift up my head.”

             The context is war, fighting, conflict.  Ever been there?  I admit to never serving in the military.  It’s not that I’m not patriotic; it’s just that I’ve never been much for violence.  Fighting, basically the lowest form of all human interaction, doesn’t thrill me.  Of course, given the fact that most guys are taller than me also might have something to do with it.  Another factor was my draft number.  The year for me to register, the draft lottery gave me #147 for my birth date.  I was sweating it because the year before, the army chose 150 as the cutoff number.  Anyone with a number under 151 had to report for military service.  If they did that again, I’d be off to Vietnam.  But Southeast Asia wasn’t the only place fighting was going on: it was here between war protestors and police.  147 was just a little too close for comfort.  Then the military brass released their cutoff number for that year: 125.  Whew!  Not having to go, I stayed home like most of my friends whose numbers were above 125.

But I mentioned context.  Context of what?  Psalm 3.  And you don’t necessarily need to be an army general or military strategist to figure this out.  Verses 1-2 are plain: “O Lord, how many are my foes!  How many rise up against me!  Many are saying of me, ‘God will not deliver him.’  Selah.”  In our day of exaggeration and supersizing everything — especially fries, sodas, milkshakes, rumors, purses, you name it — were a contemporary writer to pen this, it would sound something like this: “Hey God!  My enemies are multiplying like vermin!  They’re growing exponentially!  He-e-e-e-lllp!”

The shift in this psalm, in contrast to many others, comes comparatively quickly: the next verse.  “But you are a shield around me, O Lord: you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.”  I have heard many a good Christian interpret this verse saying things about depression and sadness.  “Being depressed is the result of taking your eyes off God and putting them on something less.  They don’t belong there!  That’s what your problem is.”  And true enough, you can get depressed, especially in hard times like David experienced, and your head can and often does hang low.  At the time of this psalm, David was on the run fleeing from his own son Absalom who had treacherously seized the throne, defiled his fathers concubines (if that’s really possible; see 2 Samuel 16) and wanted to kill his father.  Rarely must a man contend with such things done by his son.  So admittedly this was not an easy time for David.  So conflict?  Fighting?  You bet!  The worst kind — in one’s own family.  And it was about to tear up the whole nation.

When the battle is joined, and bombs are coming your way and bullets flying overhead, what’s your first inclination?  Duck!  Dive!  Take cover!  And what is the position of your head?  Down, hidden.  The context tells us why one’s head would be down: protection, not depression.  But notice what David says, “Your are a shield around me, O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.”  See that?  He’s not depressed, worried, fearful or anything like that.  He doesn’t even have to duck.  God is his shield.  In a word, David knows he’s invincible.  So, he can keep his head up!  The rest of the psalm bears this out:

Verse 4: God actually heard his prayer from heaven.  And he answered favorably.

Verse 5:  God’s answer so was good that David slept like a baby, and woke up the next morning, proving God’s sustaining power.  He has nothing to worry about.  No depression, no anxiety.

Verse 6:  No fear, either, even if the enemy multiplies to “tens of thousands.”  No biggie.

Verse 7: Notice where David asks God to strike the enemy: “on the jaw, break[ing] the teeth.”  Where are the teeth and jaw?  In the face.  What is the face?  The front of the head.  See the condition of the head of the enemy?  Down.  See the position — and thus condition — of the head of David?  Exalted, protected, secure.  See the difference when God is involved in our troubles and struggles?  When he lifts our head, he gets the praise.  When people see us strong because of God’s strength, even when we’re weak (2 Corinthians 12:10; see the context), he gets the honor and glory.  That’s why he lifts our head.

How’s the position of your head?  Are you invincible through God?  Is he getting the credit?