The Lifter of Your Head (Psalm 3:3)

But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory and the lifter of my head.
Psalm 3:3

There are three descriptions of who the Lord is for you in this verse.

First, He is a shield about you. David, the psalmist-King, knew the dangers and anxieties of war. Constantly escaping from evil, vulnerable to violence, he knew his only security came from the Lord’s sovereign protection. David knew the function of a shield—to be a wall of protection between him and an oncoming threat. This word-picture does not change for us: God is our shield, our fortress, our protection. As it is written elsewhere, we can hide “in the shadow of his wings” (Ps 17:8). Though God’s shielding of us is not physical, that is, seen with our eyes, it is nonetheless powerful. God, in infinite power and wisdom, is able to protect us through the working of His sovereign providence. If you are a child of God through Jesus Christ, “who shall bring any charge against God’s elect?” (Rm 8:33). Though our enemies may look more like lies against our salvation, guilt from the devil, and persecution for living for Christ—God is our shield ever more.

Second, God is your glory. What reputations do we seek apart from the Lord? What securities do we build our lives upon that are not God? David knew that if everything was stripped away—his kingdom, how others perceived him, his family—he still had God as his glory. To have God as our glory is to know the infinite worth we have in Him despite what is happening around or within us. David knew God would vindicate him, for he did not place his worth in his own strength or abilities, but in the Creator Himself. Is all of your life set, fixated—obsessed—with being about God? Do you know who you are in Christ, all the promises laid out for you in Scripture? For God to be your glory, He must be your everything—or else He is secondary to another competing glory in your life.

Finally, God is the lifter of your head. What a tender promise we have here. There will surely be times we cannot lift our own heads from sorrow, despondency, fear, shame, anxiety, or grief. There will be times we tremble under panic, not knowing how to go one more day. But God—our great, merciful, slow-to-anger, and rich-in-love God—is the lifter of our heads. This is not something He only does once in a while; no, it is who He is. He is the lifter. It is what He does. Are you downcast today? It is ok; in due time the Lord will lift your eyes for you. Are you scared for your future? Do not fear; God has your days within His hands. His tender hand reaches down, softly pulls your chin up, so that you look at Him. God is in the business of reorienting our often-limited sight, lifting our heads to see Him, who He is for us in Christ, His everlasting love, protection, care, and security. Turn your eyes to Jesus today!

So whatever comes, God is your shield, your glory, and the lifter of your head. What encouragement we find in our great God!

Podcast #19 – I Once Was Blind (2 Cor. 4:1-6)

Text: 1 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/19-i-once-was-blind-2-cor-4-1-6/id1628176611?i=1000582873342

Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy85ZDFlZDM1Yy9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw/episode/ZjRkN2MyZDAtMzdmNS00YjM3LTllNzgtODNlYjZjOThmNWM3?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwiYk9nk99j8AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQSw

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Podcast #18 – Where the Spirit of the Lord is: FREEDOM (2 Cor. 3:17-18)

Text: 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/18-where-the-spirit-of-the-lord-is-freedom-2-cor-3-17-18/id1628176611?i=1000582129990

Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy85ZDFlZDM1Yy9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw/episode/NDIwZmRlODItZTg1Zi00YTgzLTk3ODMtZjY2NjI1Y2M2ZWVl?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwiYk9nk99j8AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ

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Podcast #16 – The Ministry of the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:7-11)

Text: “7 Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? 9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. 10 Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.” -2 Cor 3:7-11

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/16-the-ministry-of-the-spirit-2-cor-3-7-11/id1628176611?i=1000580639582

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Magnify (Psalm 34:3)

Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
and let us exalt his name together!
Psalm 34:3

Let us consider the word magnify. When one magnifies something, he makes it larger than it actually is in his sight. A magnifying glass bends the bug to appear larger than it is. A telescope magnifies a distant object to be visible to the naked eye.

Now, we must be careful: when David says to “magnify the Lord,” he does not mean to make Him appear or become larger than what He already is. No, the great God of the cosmos cannot become any greater, any wiser, any more powerful, or sovereign. Rather, this language is used to describe the largeness of God in David’s soul. David wants to make more of God in his life. He desires God to become more and more to him—to overtake him, to be exalted in him, to be flooded with His presence. This is what is meant by the word magnify. David desired that his people would make much of God in their hearts. Or, another way this can be said: David pleads with his people to worship God as He is: the infinite, mighty, awesome, glorious God of the universe. So he sings: “magnify the Lord with me!”

Oh, how I fear that we make too little of who God is. We consider him like a little bug in the grass, thinking we have to search with a magnifying glass just to find him. We think that we are the ones who make him bigger by our worship or false piety. May it not be so! Rather, our situation is more akin to viewing the sun through a telescope. With our naked eye, we are blinded by its glory. We cannot see it. Likewise, in our sinful flesh, we are blinded to God’s presence and weight in our lives. Only through the telescope of God’s grace can we behold a fraction of who He is. We need Him to be magnified in our souls in the sense that, apart from His mediating grace, we could never behold Him.

Oh Christian, praise the Lord that this mediating grace is found in Jesus Christ alone. Jesus is the telescope of God’s glory, the pure magnification of who He is to us. Jesus said “if you have seen me, you have seen the Father” (Jn 14:9). He is the eternal “Word made flesh,” the “radiance of God’s glory”, and the “exact imprint of his nature.” Magnify the Lord today by beholding Jesus Christ. Look upon Him: see His scars and ponder the great love which led Him to give up His very life to cleanse us. The blindness of our eyes due to the dimming power of sin has been healed: we can now behold the Father, Son and Holy Spirit by sheer grace. Now, everything in this world we are so prone to magnify in His place will become strangely dim as we behold the light of His presence!Yet, we know we still do not see Him perfectly. We await a final day of magnification: the great coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. On that day, when we are changed in the twinkling of an eye, we will be with Him forever—unhindered, free, without any sin, magnifying the Lord in His eternal fullness. Oh, what a day! But as we wait right now, magnify the Lord by looking upon Christ today!