Title: God Raises My Head
God who lifts my head
“How many are my enemies, O LORD? Many are rising up against me. There are many who say to me, “I have no help from God.” O LORD, you are my shield and my glory, you are the one who lifts up my head. I am my voice. I cry out to the LORD, and he answers me from his holy mountain” (Psalm 3:1-4).
I. Text Commentary
The text is a poem written by David while he was on the run when Absalom, David's son, rebelled to kill David and become king. John Owen says that in the Old Testament there was no one who loved God as much as David, and there were few who loved God as much as David. But even for such David, it was not always spring days. God wanted his soul to always bloom before God like a blooming flower. So God used suffering to bring the spring days back to David's soul.
II. use suffering
A. Many enemies
When Absalom rebelled, those who were on David's side sided with Absalom, and even his friends and people turned around and began to curse David. All of this was unexpected for David. The poet shed many painful tears that he will never forget in his life. On the one hand, it was tears of pain and shame, and tears of pain for his own son. But David endured these hardships. Even in our lives, there are times when it seems like the front and back are blocked. Even so, do not be discouraged. This is because God allows us to hear the words we could not hear because of our flaws in our hearts through suffering, and to seek God whom we could not feel.
B. Grace seems to have been cut off
David's enemies thought. “If God did not forsake David, how could David be ousted from the throne?” They mocked that David had been abandoned by God. Whoever looked at him, David seemed to have been abandoned by God.
There are times when God puts His children in a barren wilderness where grace seems to have been cut off. There are times when a helping hand is nowhere to be found, and even faithful friends turn away. Knowing that our souls cannot be renewed without dealing with us so far, God puts us in such a situation because of His great love. When our hearts begin to be shaken by painful circumstances, the Word of God begins to come anew to our souls.
The poet remembered the many graces God had bestowed on his life in this heartbreaking situation. He sings three songs about how God dealt with his soul.
III. restore the soul
A. Shield
David sang that God is a shield. A shield is a defensive weapon used in war. Here it means God who protects his soul. Because God was his shield in the most painful and unbearable circumstances, his soul could rather feel the deep love in the Lord's tent. In the psalms, there are traces of God looking at only God in the midst of trials and suffering, and singing God who protects his soul.
B. Glory
David sang for the second time that God is Glory. The word glory means 'important' or 'heavy'. Glory is the effect that compels others to recognize someone who has something. In other words, the material or power he possesses is not glory in itself, but the effect that compels others to recognize him is glory. Absalom's rebellion caused David's greatest disgrace. However, when Absalom's death revealed that David was the one whom God had established, David could see the great providence of God. After a long hardship, God not only purged David's soul but also restored his glory in front of people.
There are times when we are endangered or despised for our disobedience and evil. Through this, God shows that our inheritance is not on this earth and restores the heart of absolute dependence on God by making us lose what we believed most.
C. Raise the head
Finally David sang that God is the one who lifts up my head. Raising the head is associated with the custom of a king to restore a guilty officer. This means that you will restore your relationship with him again and lift him up. What caused David to have the bitter experience of being betrayed by his beloved son? It was because of David's own sin. This was foreordained in the providence of God. In the midst of suffering, David had no choice but to confess that all this tribulation was the result of his own sin. When God told David to ‘lift up thy head’ after purifying David, he knew with certainty that it was God’s righteousness, not his own, that God accepted him. It is as if we are not saved because of our righteousness, but because Christ's righteousness is imputed to us.
IV. re-learned prayer
It was because of his cry of prayer that David's many sufferings led to the recovery of his soul. Instead of blaming God, he cried out to the Lord toward the holy mountain. When he wept and howled, there was no image of a great king, a courageous soldier on the battlefield, or a prophet who mastered the law. He was just a lamb with his clothes on the ashes and weeping for his sins. He met God deeply in the last years of his life.
The word “call out” is the Hebrew word for “go”. This sound is the cry of the soul, produced by the action of grace from the depths of the heart. He learned to pray again. Of course, in the past, he was a man of prayer. But after sin entered, the beautiful prayers ceased in the heart, and darkness came to the soul. However, God made David pray desperately in the last years of his life, so he broke off his attachment to vain things and purifies his soul.
We think that if we leave the place or situation when we are tested and troubled, there will be changes. But God is a God everywhere. If you live in obedience to grace, you will meet the living God, and if you sin, you will only meet the silent God. Wherever we fall, we need to get up and seek God while holding on to the staff of the Word.
God makes us learn to pray again in the midst of great tribulation. He lets us see in the mirror of the Word and acknowledges us, which we could not have known by our own strength. All this is to give spring days to our souls.
We need to be prayerful again. Make up your mind. Instead of hoping for good luck, we should hope for God and earnestly pray that spring will come to our soul. God will give a spring day to your soul who earnestly cries out to God alone. 2009-04-29