living loved

But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. – Psalm 3:3

In Psalm 3, David is crying out to God in honesty and authenticity as a man who is who he is (a sinner – like a really big sinner) and is again just trusting that God can bring deliverance. He proclaims in this Psalm that God is the only one in control of his circumstances – the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I’ve always thought it incredibly profound that David is described as a man after God’s own heart considering that David has some pretty obvious and blatant sin aired for everyone to read about in the bible. But David is exactly who the bible says he is because of his urge, desire, and desperation to run to God in the midst of not only praise but also his deepest sins, fears, and failures. David runs to God at all times because only God (but God) is the shield around him. When David wins the battle, God gets the shout out. When David murders, God gets the cry out. In all circumstances, it is always God who lifts David’s head high (sometimes with discipline and consequences), and David still runs to God.

The bearded beauty and I have had some pretty big praises and some even bigger failures. There are times when our eyes have strayed from Jesus to our circumstances. In those moments, our circumstances often engulf us into fear, failure, guilt, and shame. Thankfully, God has given us each other to lift our eyes back to the beauty of our Creator, to the One who looks past our failures and fears and instead gives us mercy, grace, self worth, and unconditional love even when we certainly don’t deserve it, and we can’t do anything to earn it. The same God who saves David again and again and again, saves us too.

In the midst of whatever your circumstance is today (fear, failure, guilt, shame, anger, deceit – whatever is taking your eyes off Jesus), remember but you, Lord. David was a murderer, deceiver, and adulterer, and yet, David knew the One who could make things right even in his deepest sin and shame. He gave his sinful to nature to God again and again and again. There was no sin too big for His God.

Friends, God is still the same God today. He has not abandoned you. Wake up, sleeper. Look to the One who can and will make all things new. He is the one who can shield you, save you, and lift your head high.

But you, Lord . . .

XOXO, Loni