I’m guessing that, if you’re like me, you have good days and bad days.
Days when you catch the fragrance of an azalea, or witness a golden sunset, or step out into a moonless night sky and are captivated by the Milky Way arching overhead in all its myriad glory.
The world looks different on a day like that.
And then there are those other days.
Days when you’ve had a rotten night’s sleep and feel cranky in the morning, creaky in the afternoon and very aged in the evening. The washer breaks down, the car won’t start, the kids are driving you nuts, your email box is overflowing, and there’s that annoying person you’ve got to deal with later on….
It’s on days like these that we could do with a spiritual shot in the arm from Psalm 3 ~
“My defender…my worship: and the lifter-up of my head.”
I love that ‘lifter-up’ phrase. It makes me picture in my mind’s eye a discouraged child struggling with his homework, a kind father stooping down to gently ‘lift his head up’ from being bowed down, and asking, “What’s up son; would you like some help?” And so the little boy sighs, then looks up into his Dad’s kind eyes and suddenly all is well again.
Or picture the commuter standing on the tube train, weighed down by the disappointments of a difficult day at the office, and bagged to the hilt with a shed-load of papers that have to be sorted out at home. Somehow the traveller’s grip on it all falters at a tight bend in the line, and with an unexpected jolt….a file-load of chaos spills out onto the floor. “Here, let me help you with those,” a kind seated passenger suggests. And then with a smile adds, “Take my seat; looks like you need it more than me!”
‘To lift the burden of the day, and send you joyfully on your way.’
That captures the flavour of it. ‘My defender (or ‘glory’ as some translations have it)…and the lifter-up of my head’.
Do you need that ministry of encouragement today?
The author of Psalm 3 clearly did.
He was troubled, feeling the pressure of life, and the sharp sting of people’s disappointment or abuse – ‘Many are they that rise against me. Many one that say of my soul: There is no help for him in his God.’
Ouch!
That hurts.
No help from my God!?
If that’s your experience of life today then let these words from the psalmist bathe your soul, ‘Father’ you, and lift you up.
The commentaries remind us that there’s something more here than a gentle hand lifting the discouraged head. This ‘lifting-up’ image is borrowed from the King’s throne room – a place where authority lies, and where justice and judgement are to be found. The petitioner standing and trembling in that vulnerable courtroom, knows that the King has ultimate power to dispose of his case, and him with it….should he so choose!
This picture richly strengthens the truth of what we’re grappling with here. When it comes down to it, a father can only do so much to help his son; his power is limited. A kind passenger on the tube train will probably alight at the next stop, leaving the weary traveller to find their way home carrying the same weighty load. But the King’s throne room represents power and authority on a whole other sort of level.
‘I called upon the LORD..and He heard me…sustained me…helped me be unafraid for ten thousands of the circumstances against me in life today!’
We’re talking about help that is set in a very different sort of landscape from ours.
When the LORD reaches out to lift up our head, His is the power that blows away the robbers of our sleep, the scare-ers of our hearts, and empowers our every life breath! Of course, He may choose a kind Dad to help Him out, or a thoughtful stranger on the train. But He may also slip a gentle hand onto your weary brow, draw your gaze towards His Throne…….and remind you where He reigns!
‘Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: and Thy blessing upon Thy people' thus the Psalmist concludes. And when blessing comes from someone like that, you can count on it: there will be a lifting up!
Prayer
O LORD, you have searched me and known me. You know when I’m fed up; when life’s unfair; when people treat me rough and circumstances queue up to join in. Today LORD, wherever I am, help me feel your gentle hand of grace upon me….lifting me up from the place of discouragement, scattering the gloom from the horizon before me. YOU ARE the one who alone has power to give me victory in every circumstance. So I lift up my voice to you just now, wherever I happen to be, and whatever may be going on in my life, knowing with the Psalmist that when it comes to asking for your uplifting, your desire towards me is always going to be ‘Yes!’
Through Jesus Christ my LORD.
Written by faithful acet UK supporter, Reverend Robert Ireton