Me? Dragging? That’s not my usual state (and maybe not yours). Most days, I can talk myself off a cliff, lift myself up, move from feeling down by turning my back on trouble, and turning my heart to God.

But a couple of weeks ago, I was dragging—needing help and knowing it. So, you can guess what I finally did. Lying in bed, I told my churning mind to shut down the noise and stop the infernal clatter.

Finally, then, I could hear God’s Spirit whisper. I am your Lifter.

There’s a song about that, of course. Later, in fact, when I wrote a short post on Facebook about our Lifter God, several friends replied by mentioning the song—and how much they love it.

Sitting on the side of the bed, however, I didn’t sing the song. I looked inside my Bible for the Scripture:

“But you, LORD, are a shield around me,
my glory, and the lifter of my head” (Psalm 3:3).

That is David worshiping—when he fled from his rebel son Absalom and the army the boy amassed to take down his father, the king. Yep, family drama. His son scheming against him.

I have so many foes, David cried to God—many of them insisting that God wouldn’t deliver him. (v. 1-2)

But You, Lord, declared David, are a shield around me, “my glory, the One who lifts my head high.”

This is faith talk. Real deal. The kind we need when watching the news or hearing bad news, and that news sends us diving under the covers. Yet again.

For, David, such moments meant not burrowing under those covers. Instead, he countered his despair by speaking praise. “I lie down and sleep,” he reminded himself, “because the LORD sustains me” (v. 5). Though tens of thousands assailed him, “I will not fear” (v. 6).

When was the last time you or I has spoken such confidence in God? Ignored that our actual heads–which weigh, for the record, between 10 to 11 pounds (4.5 to 5 kg) on average–aren’t a light matter to deal with, especially if we’re feeling low.

Or, are we looking to other things to lift us? Popularity, praise from people, personal achievements, earthly barometers–fashion, fame, frivolity, or fun–carry us above the strains of life?

David, as king, could have all of such things. What he learned to count on, however, is the true Lifter. Feeling low, he could step back and ask the Lord for a pick up that actually worked.

Watching the news, indeed, I’ve started just turning it off more times than not–spending more time, instead, seeking the presence of our shielding, glorious, Lifting God.

Is that escapism? Or, like David, am I giving myself more time to meet God with hope? To say this:

“God, You’re lifting me high—far above confusion, drama, drudgery, worry, insults, and injustice of life.” Not to ignore trials, but to get closer to You, because You can handle it.

Up there, talking to God, our trials are smaller. We can see our way clear—to Him and His might–but also to see ourselves. We’re not the failures we’ve called ourselves, or the less than others that we’ve wrongly measured ourselves.

So, letting God lift our heads isn’t just to feel better. Instead, lifted high, we gain new perspective.

Lifted by God we’re reminded that all’s not lost in our fight for a better world, both for others and for ourselves.

Lifted by God, instead, we can sing to Him–thanking Him for what he already has done, and for what he already knows that we need, seeing by faith that He’s already providing it.

Then listen. What a glory! This same God is singing over us. Why? Because He loves us. A whole lot.

Patricia Raybon, an award-winning author and novelist, writes on faith by day and mystery by night. A writer at Our Daily Bread Ministries and DaySpring’s (in)courage community, she writes to fight for our joy in Christ in a challenging world.

On the fiction side, she’s excited to announce the debut of her historical mystery series about a young theologian—a fan of Sherlock Holmes—solving murder and crime in Colorado’s 1920s Klan era. All That Is Secret is set to releases Oct. 5, 2021, from Tyndale House. “Readers will be hooked from the first line…Captivating.” (Julie Cantrell, New York Times bestselling author.) “Engaging and evocative. Brava, Patricia…it is captivating.” (Jerry B. Jenkins, New York Times bestselling author.)

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