We attended worship today at the church in Mount Vernon, Missouri where my son, Greg, has been the worship leader for about the last 8 years. They will be launching out into a new local ministry of sorts. He did a masterful job. It was a blessing to be there and to participate in worship there this morning.
After the songs finished, the pastor asked for people to speak out truths about God. A number of people responded, with all of the main attributes of God mentioned. One term that was mentioned took me way back to the mid-1970s. Someone mentioned the God is the lifter or my head. That language comes from Psalm 3:3, where the KJV says, “But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; My glory, and the lifter up of mine head.”
In the mid-1970s we went to language school in Costa Rica prior to arriving in Chile to do missionary work. We formed a team there, primarily of people from the west coast of the US. Among them were some masterful musicians, who brought some of the praise & worship music unknown to us at the time. One of the Scripture songs we sang was from Psalm 3.
On the way to that service, we listened to our son-in-law, Kyle Bellinger, lead out in worship at his church in Jefferson City, then listened to the sermon at that church. It was an excellent message, short, concise, precise about God’s call to Moses in Exodus 3. One of the main points was that God uses people who don’t believe they can be used by Him, that is, people who need their heads to be lifted by God.
As I reflected on God doing that for us, I was reminded of a mini-series Rose and I have watched for the past couple weeks on ABC-TV titled Women of the Movement. It tells the story of Mamie Till-Mobley, a true pioneer in the Civil Rights Movement. Her son, 14-year old Emmett Till traveled from Chicago to Mississippi in 1955, to spend time with relatives there. Till, an African American young man was instructed not to lift his head to look a white person in the eyes. He failed to look down, and was brutally murdered by some white people in Sumner, Mississippi. It is discouraging to watch such an ugly portrayal of the hatred that existed (and still exists) because of the color of one’s skin. Emmett Till lifted his head, and paid with his life.
We serve a God who could demand that we walk around with our head lowered. The Bible teaches that God sent his Son as a demonstration of his love for us. Though we are unworthy to lift our head, he lifts it for us, granting to us the dignity that others want to take away. He is our glory and the one who lifts our head.
I call the Chicago area my home, though I haven’t lived there for many years. The ABC miniseries, produced by Will Smith, is a well-done portrayal of a piece of history that many Caucasians overlook. If you haven’t seen it, you can catch up on the streaming service Hulu. On the eve of Martin Luther King Day, I recommend it.