Rested despite trials

You oh Lord are a shield for me, my glory and the One who lifts up my head. 

(Psalm 3:3, NKJV)

There are times when one feels overwhelmed and surrounded by trouble coming from many sides.  In acknowledging such moments, there is the saying that “it does not rain, its pours”, suggesting that it only gets worse with no chance of reprieve.  In such moments of life, one could feel helpless and lost as he struggles with the imminent challenges around him.  At times we fight back trying to take control and it could get exhausting. This is how David was feeling when he wrote our reference verse, he felt surrounded by enemies from all corners.  Yet in the middle of this situation where he felt threatened by many and mocked by others, he chose to declare something different from what was the physical reality of his circumstances, he saw his place of rest. 

In this single verse, David gave us a comforting word, that despite all what was happening he knew that God was his shield and that He would lift up his fallen head, God would give him a reason to look up with hope. It appears to me that David chose not to fight back for control but to find rest in the assurance of God’s presence, so that he surrendered the fight and chose to see the perspective of victory through the hand of God.  Brethren, this challenges us to trust God even when we do not understand what is happening, we trust in His ability to do us good.  We know that God’s plans, desire and purposes for us are always good (Jeremiah 29:11), when we choose to believe this, we can then say with David that our God is our shield, our protector and the one who gives us hope and confidence for the next level.  It may appear to some as though this is an escapist view as we do not contest to control situations by our own strength, but I find this position of rest in the midst of all what is going on around us, as a sign of our trust in God, acknowledging that though we do not understand what is happening, our God has been on this journey before us and so our part is to follow Him as He leads. 

Brethren, I do not suggest that it is easy to just rest in the midst of a battle, our human instinct is to fight back but often we realize we do not have what it takes to win.  It is for such moments that we are reminded to turn to our source of strength, undeniably always able to protect us giving us an advantage over our situations.  Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, taught that we need to have child-like faith (Luke 18:17), a faith which believes that the person one is looking up to is well able to meet the needs of the moment.  Children have no fear when a parent or a guardian stands with them, they believe that the grown up knows what needs to be done and they trust themselves to the grown up.  This is the pure trust in God that we are called to have, despite the struggles that we face on earth, we can rest assured that once we cry to God, He will answer us and handle the situation.  David emphasizes this in (Psalm 3:5), a verse in the same chapter where he says, that though he has enemies all around, he will lay down and sleep in peace for the Lord God sustains him.  A rest and sleep in the midst of the challenges is what God gives us, as we give our concerns to Him, He in turn gives us His peace, His rest.  Jesus advised us to not let our hearts be troubled (John 14:1), calling us from our place of struggles to His place of rest.  David knew this place well enough, so that he gave us a beautiful revelation of God as our shepherd so that we have no need for worry, our victory is assured as we get to dwell in God’s house (Psalm 23:1-6).  Beloved, our strength in trials is not in our ability to fight back but to find our rest in God.  Isaiah wrote to us, that it is in returning to God that we shall find our rest, it is in quietness and trust that we shall find our strength (Isaiah 30:15).  Despite the challenges we experience may we practice finding rest and confidence in God alone.

Thoughts:

Where is your resting place?

What is your reaction when faced with challenges?

Do you have memorials of God lifting your bowed head?

Have you known God shielding you?