lifter of my head

A few weeks ago I was listening to the radio and they had like a whole afternoon tributed to 2pac. Hearing all those songs brought back such memories of high school and especially when I was 16 and I bought 2pac's Greatest Hits CD and drove around to that all the time.

Anyways that inspired me to download that album in my itunes. And the song I put on my ipod was "Keep Ya Head Up." I listened to this song every morning on my run this week.

Meanwhile I have been focused on Psalm 3 this week. Especially verse 3, "But you are a shield around me O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head."

The concept of keeping your head up is such a picture of pride, like find your own strength, do it yourself, and push forward. The concept of God lifting your head is such a humble picture because he can't lift our heads unless they are first bowed down. Keeping your own head up doesn't admit need or weakness. When we in humility say, "I can't do it on my own strength" we admit our need. Then we get to experience someone stronger to do it for us in our weakness.

When Jesus was on the cross it says, "Jesus said, It is finished.' With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." ~ John 19:30. Jesus bowed his head and lost his spirit, so when we bow our heads, we receive his spirit.

That is just such a beautiful picture to me. Everything he calls us to do, in this case, bow our heads, he has already done to the extreme. And because he did it he got death and because he did it we get life. What an exchange.

So next time someone says, "keep your head up" I think what the Bible would imply is to actually, "bow my head down." Bow my head in trust, in humility, and in need. And then depend on the strength of the One who bowed his head in death in order to be the Lifter of my head in life.