A Triune helper, Elder Mark Green But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head” (Ps. 3.3).
David had just noted that there were many who said that there was no help for him in God. This psalm was written when he fled from Absalom, and at that time things certainly looked bleak for him; but David never gave up his trust in God. Those that troubled him were greatly increased, and there were many that sought for his soul, but God was his strength.
God is a triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – and we find many instances in which the attributes and acts of God are listed in trios. Here is one example. David saw God as his helper in three ways. First, He was his shield or his protector. King Saul frequently pursued David in his youth and had God not been on his side, surely he would have been captured and slain. Even before that, he had been delivered from the mouths of the bear and the lion. Eventually even his rebellious son was slain and David returned to his palace in peace.
God is a shield for us against all our enemies. There is none that is as great as the Lord. His strength and wisdom are limitless, and He can destroy them with the blast of His nostrils.
God was David’s glory. This was true even when he was on the run, a refugee from his own city. It was true when he was hiding from Saul in caves. No matter how despised we may be by the world, no matter how low a natural station we may occupy, God is our glory. His virtue is ours. Even now we sit representatively at the right hand of God in the most glorious station that exists. Who could be any higher than that? Who is more glorious? We are seated there with him and even though we are not yet there in person, we are happy for our glory to be in Him who stands for us in the counsel halls of heaven.
God was the lifter-up of David’s head. This was indeed a time that David might have been discouraged. He was growing older, and Absalom was a dashing young man who captured the fancy of the people. David was an outcast, and it must have been a dejected group of people who trudged with him into the countryside seeking refuge from the usurper. Their heads must have been drooping. They needed someone to lift them up and make them realize that all was well.
Everything may not be exactly as we would desire it in this world, but we have the prospect of living with God in glory. Is that not enough? We have the presence of His Spirit with us while we go through the world. Is that not enough? We have the dear old church as a home for wayfaring saints while we sojourn here below. Is that not enough? Those ought to be enough to enliven even the most discouraged child of God.
We are just like the tired old horse that is pulling the wagon home from the fields after a hard day of labor: when he gets in sight of the barn, he perks up, his head comes up, his step quickens – because he is going home. We are going home, are we not? Just a few more days and we will be with the vast multitudes surrounding the throne of God, blending our glorified voices in heavenly praise to the Almighty.
That is home. That is where we are going. It is close ahead. So, let us raise our heads, quicken our steps and hasten along, knowing that our work is not in vain here in the kingdom of God and that the greatest scene of all lies just ahead.