psalm 3: lifter of the head - 33rd week Tuesday 2017

Today we read Psalm 3. This is a prayer of David, not as king nor as soldier but as a father, a father who just lost it all.  His family is in shambles.  David’s oldest son and heir Ammon raped his half-sister Tamar.  In anger Absalom, the brother of Tamar killed Ammon.  Absalom then fled in exile to flee his father's wrath, but after some time he was allowed to return back to Jerusalem.  But David refused to meet him, and would not even speak to his son – an dthis the situation for 2 years.  The resentment built up in Absalom’s heart until one day he staged a coup and ousted his father David as king.  David left his palace in a hurry together with his followers and their families.  It was during this most difficult hour when this prayer, psalm 3, was composed.

How does one feel when the very persons you love and trust turn against you?  What do you do when you could no longer feel the support of your family in your endeavors and plans? 

Or put yourself in the place of Absalom – how would one feel when your father would not even face you, much less talk to you?

In this psalm David called God the lifter of the head.  It is a curious word, but it is the same word used when Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and by Pharaoh’s servants.  To be a lifter of the head, bowed down by so many burdens and cares, God is asked to restore the joy that once was, to restore the joy that once was, to restore especially that which is so fundamental to us and our well-being - the joy of family life, the security and rest that can only be found in one’s family. 

Is there something that needs to be restored in your family?  Can things still be made right? 

Having been in the formation with young people for a long time now I have seen so many wounds, some left open for years, and too many scars.  Many of us now in our adult years have to learn to live with a lot of regrets, a lot of things we ought to have done but failed to do.  Thus, this prayer is important while there is still time.  Absalom, David's rebel son would eventually die as he flee his father's armies.  There would be no reconciliation, there would be no restoration at least in David's lifetime.  Even the best king of Israel had his lapses as a father and as a husband.

There are indeed times when all I can do is to pray to the lifter of the head. But we have to do what we can.  Value each other while you still have time.