| “But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.” |
| —Psalm 3:3 KJV |
I am amazed how quickly flowers start to droop. And, we know how unappealing and useless such a bouquet becomes. But, what a change in the structure of the flowers happens once we add fresh water to the vase!
Sometimes, we feel ourselves like a droopy flower, like a bowed attempt to look productive and useful on a banquet table. What makes us bow over like that and to keep our faces down? Sometimes we bow in shame over some past sinful practice. We hide our heads from God and those around us who know us well. We consider ourselves on the way to uselessness before Him.
Other times, our “bowing down” comes from some great sorrow, or from a long term trial. We feel like our heads bend with a heaviness we can’t get rid of, with a tiredness and joyless outlook on the future.
To us, the Psalmist David says in Psalm 145:14:The Lord… lifts up all who are bowed down.
And again, in Psalm 146: 8, we read:
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous.
I think God cares specifically and kindly for those in the condition of feeling bowed down. His written Word tells us in 1 Peter 5:5 that:
He gives grace to the humble.
And what do we do for our droopy flowers whose heads bow toward the floor? We run and pour some fresh water in the container. We feed them with that which they need the most.
We can hear Christ say, in John 4:13-14:
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become to him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
If we drink the water Christ welcomes us to drink, we can be assured that our heads will face the sun again and our shame will be washed away. God will lift us up, give us His grace to stand. And, He will do this, not only for us, but also for all those who will catch the sweet scent of the Living Christ in our raised and shining faces.
