SPRING FORTH NOW 2024

Sunday, December 8, 2024

LORD, how are they increased that trouble me!

many are they that rise up against me.

Many there be which say of my soul,

There is no help for him in God. Selah.

But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me;

my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.

I cried unto the LORD with my voice,

and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.

I laid me down and slept;

I awaked; for the LORD sustained me.

I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people,

that have set themselves against me round about.

Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God:

for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone;

thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.

Salvation belongeth unto the LORD:

thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah.

Psalm 3

Tupac recorded “Keep Ya Head Up” to encourage the women of our lives and He chose to do it from a positive vantage point of viewing life through the lens of a Black male growing up in the inner city.  Tupac chose to encourage us from the position that He was in, not just viewing life with our heads hung down but instead choosing to encourage us to see life from the vantage point in which one decides to Lift Up Your Head.  The trouble of inner-city life for Black people, both women and men, can be depressing and often cause us to become complicit in our own marginalization, giving us every reason to hang our heads, but as the Psalmist says, God, our expectation must be the lifter of our head.  We cannot keep looking down; we must be consistent about encouraging one another to Lift Up Your Head so as to Open Up The Way to overcoming to inherit all things.  I would suggest to you that Tupac in his Hip Hop culture experience, drew on the strength and might of women and the endurance of our people, our experiences, and the assurance of our faith to focus us on an expectation for overcoming and inheriting all things.  The psalmist says my enemies, my challenges, my obstacles keep increasing, and I am going to keep my head lifted for my opportunities and possibilities, encouraging actions that lead to overcoming and inheriting our promised life and life more abundantly are mine!