"Keeping Your Head Up" (Psalm 3)

Introduction

We hear quite often the expression, ‘keep your head down’! This might have come from soldiers fighting in the trenches, where you had to keep your head down or otherwise it would likely be a target. You hear it said, ‘keep your head down’ … when there is potential danger or embarrassment – so that maybe you are not noticed, and the danger misses you. When you’ve got a lot of work on your plate, or when a student needs to study hard, you might also hear it said, ‘keep your head down’ – so you won’t be so easily diverted by distraction.

This psalm speaks of the opposite – keeping your head UP!! This psalm ably presents many of the challenges of life, but also reflects on how God assuredly delivers us – so that the outcome can be, and should be … our head being UP! God wants us to keep our head UP, and actively works in our life so that this can actually be the reality. ‘Keep your head down’ … NO! Learn to keep it UP!!

God enables us to even ‘keep our heads up’ through a variety of adverse happenings. This certainly then becomes a positive for us (in our own mental health), but also enables us to present a more engaging witness to faith. There is often a big difference out at that three-quarter time huddle at the footy, between being ten goals behind with heads down, and ten goals in front with heads up. But in the Jesus-following life, where the big turnaround is just around the corner, it should always be ‘heads up’.

[This doesn't mean we pretend things are good when they're not. But rather this means we allow God access to work in our lives - through which God lifts our head.]

Context (verses 1-2)

Sometimes people will dismiss or mock our faith, just because it seems to them that it doesn’t work. They say, like has been often said, “There is no help for you in God”! ‘Things aren’t getting any better for you’! ‘See, God (if such a being exists) doesn’t care for you’! There are many, who for a variety of reasons, just want to point the finger at us … and scoff. Often, sadly, this is because of how badly they feel about themselves. But they are often only looking on the outside (with very limited vision); and perhaps they are also looking for dramatic changes, rather than those more gentle learning experiences that we are encountering on the inside.

They could be saying that God doesn’t exist, or doesn’t have any power, or just doesn’t care enough. We would probably say, easily enough, that none of this is true; but, if we listen to this enough, and if we don’t find means of contesting this as a lie, then, “There is no help for you in God” can cement itself in our spirit, and it becomes, “There is no help for me in God”!! We start to internalise these words! Then the enemy that was on the outside, has found its way inside, with all sorts of destructive self-talk (and that enemy then has a stronghold over us). We then tend to doubt God’s grace, feel unforgiven, can’t forgive ourselves, and regress into guilt and shame – and, our heads drop.

Then there are others … who can also be seen as the “enemies” of ‘our spirit’ – the ones who tend to discourage, unfairly criticise, undermine our confidence, bring hostility into our lives, tell lies or half-truths about us, break our trust, and destroy our peace. Our heads drop again! Sometimes it appears, like it did to this psalmist (in verse 6), that there are tens of thousands of people who have set themselves against us … all around! This is far from a pleasant place to be, and we shouldn’t just stay there, but actively seek the way forward and upward. The psalmist chose prayer and worship, and was successful!

Resolve (verses 3-4)

The psalmist here, was quick to avoid all this negativity, by claiming God’s promise of love and companionship. David, who this psalm is attributed to, refused to deny what he knew to be true! And so true was this, that he rehearsed it over and over again in his mind – verse 3 – “You, O Lord, are a shield to me, my glory, and the lifter of my head”. And far from being remote or unavailable or unwilling, whenever I cry to the Lord, “he answers me”. David, knew, as we can know, on the basis of what has gone before, that God is completely faithful to His children. We may not understand what God is doing, but God is undoubtedly working away in our best interests – good things will happen just at the right time.

This “shield” around me is God’s grace, God’s assurance of my acceptance as His child, God’s promise of blessing in my life, the endowment of God’s Spirit with giftedness and fruitfulness and purpose. God loves me. This shield around me is like a big hug! A big hug from God! My head rides high! This doesn’t mean I won’t take a few hits from time to time – we remain vulnerable in our humanity. This does mean, I reckon, that God’s purposes for me will NOT be foiled. Because God accepts me, and values me, and I belong to Jesus, my head is lifted. Because God accepts you, and values you, and you belong to Jesus, your head will be lifted.

We note the mention (in v.3) of God being our glory … “You O Lord are a shield around me … my glory”. The NLT puts this, “You O Lord are a shield around me; You are my glory”. Whatever does that mean?? How could we express this in other words??

• The One responsible for all the good in my life, especially my salvation
• Our greatest value is seen in our relationship with God
• “You are my glory” – the One that my life points towards
• The One I bear witness to
• The One who gives life
• The One who I give primary allegiance to serve with all my heart
• The One who makes my face shine (no wonder our head needs to be up).

This reminds me of Psalm 34:4-5 … I sought the Lord and he answered me, and delivered from all my fears. Look to him and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed.

Daily Journey (verses 4-7)

Day by day, morning and night – I cry, God answers, and I will NOT be afraid (even of the tens of thousands … that may still seemingly encircle me at times) – for God dismantles fear as we grow in faith. God can easily defeat ten thousand foes of various descriptions (if we let him … if we trust him to). We remind ourselves of the ongoing power of God’s deliverance, by praying for God to “rise up” … and enter all the darkness that exists around us, and bring us through with our heads still held high.

But what about how we feel about those who have been so hurtful to us? These feelings often remain quite raw. In many of the psalms such emotions are expressed quite candidly. HOW WE FEEL ABOUT OUR INNOCENT VICTIMISATION IS NOT SILENCED NOR CENSURED (in the psalms)! We have an example of this in verse 7. They deserve a good whack on the cheek and a kick in the teeth!! But the key to this … is that we give over all such feelings of animosity TO GOD – for God to deal with. We just want the negative voices silenced! We just want their power over us negated. And we trust that God will achieve this.

Holding on to these feelings, or desiring revenge – which means harbouring resentment or bitterness – will do no good, in fact untold harm. Part of our “deliverance” entails letting go of past hurts – relinquishing them to God. We don’t underestimate or ignore evil, because of the human toll it takes. It is indeed “wicked” to discourage, demean, dismiss, undermine and destroy! But we have to, as they say, ‘let go and let God’, or otherwise we will likely implode. And then we, unlike Jonah, may be prepared for very unexpected outcomes – people, that we have let go, actually repenting and changing (having given them the space to do so).

We will fight injustice the best way we can, but ultimately we will need to trust God to repress the evil in the world. I have to constantly remind myself, that nothing will be achieved if I become overwhelmed with frustration at the way things are (as against the way they should be). I have to keep my head up; or should I say … allow God to be the lifter of my head. Nothing gets achieved if I drop my head.

Deliverance (verse 8)

Let’s look at verse 8. To be “delivered” means to taken away from all that is negative, and placed in the ‘promised land’ of blessing. Here there is boundless grace, forgiveness and love. Here is the opportunity to be the person one was created to be – unleashing all that potential and giftedness. Here is the end of all negativity and shame – for this is the place of God’s acceptance. We now belong to the kingdom of God; and to acknowledge this, we are part of a local church community that takes on the role of sharing the good news of Jesus to everyone around them. We are part of the “Body of Christ’.

Just like a letter that goes in the mail, or an email that floats through cyberspace, or a text message from one phone to another – we are “delivered” from somewhere … to somewhere else. This is something that happens to us, but its origin is well and truly within God. Deliverance “belongs to the Lord” – God wants it to happen, and God through Jesus makes it happen. Deliverance is an undeniable reality … which no one else can take away. While we continue to cry out to God for mercy, no enemy of any kind can separate us from the love of God. So, let’s keep our heads UP!

Conclusion

As we are seen to keep our heads up, no longer will people be able to say, “There is no help for you in God”. As we are seen to deal with any setbacks and difficult circumstances with a positive faith-filled attitude, no longer will they be able to say, “There is no help for you in God”.

The way to reassert the place of God in today’s society is not through defensiveness and protectionism, but rather through holding our heads up; because the fact is, there is INDEED help for us in God!! And more than “help” … hope, purpose and a life full of blessing. Our foes are defeated through the strength of our testimony to Jesus. Don’t bemoan how hard it is to be a Christian, but rather follow the example of this psalmist; be prayerful and trusting, and just live for Jesus with your head held high!