The LORD Lifts Your Head in the Midst of Your Distress

When life bows your head down

There are mornings when you walk with your head down. A piece of news that hits you, health that fails, a marriage falling apart, a child who worries you, a job that weighs you down. The weight of a situation bows you low. You no longer dare to lift your eyes.

In this sermon preached on November 2, 2025, Brother Anthony AMEMOR opens Psalm 23 and then leads us to this promise from Psalm 3: "The LORD is the one who lifts up my head." He does not say it as a formula. He says it to you as a fact. The distress you are going through is not the end of your story. It is the place where God comes to change how you see and to lift your head up again.

Outline of the article

1. Your situation is not for your ruin

The preacher opens with John 9. Jesus passes by. He sees a man blind from birth. The disciples look for someone to blame: "Who sinned, this man or his parents?" Jesus answers differently: "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him."

That small phrase "so that" changes everything. Your situation has a "so that." It is not there by accident. It is not there to humiliate you. It is there so that the works of God may be displayed in you.

Martha and Mary send word to Jesus that their brother is gravely ill. Jesus answers in John 11:4: "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." What you are going through is not for your shame or your confusion. It is so that the Son of God may be glorified through your life.

2. God comes to change how you see

How you assess a situation always determines your attitude. How you judge a trial always determines your reaction. That is why God, even before he changes your circumstance, wants to renew your understanding.

Brother Anthony opens Acts 10:28. Peter speaks after his vision on the rooftop. He declares: "You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean."

Peter had just experienced a realignment. A mental stronghold (received through his upbringing, imprinted on his whole generation) had just fallen. God's voice had insisted: "What God has made clean, do not call common." Peter obeyed. He went to Cornelius, a Roman centurion, and the gospel crossed a border.

This morning, God wants to tear down a stronghold in the way you see what you are going through. Not to make you deny the pain. To change your judgment, and as a result, your attitude, your prayer, your words.

3. Without the distress, the religious man would never have drawn near

Jairus was the leader of a synagogue. A man of position, of standing, surrounded by the most respected religious figures of his day. Jesus did not have a good reputation in that circle: some said he was possessed by the devil, the Romans saw him as an agitator.

And yet, Jairus falls at Jesus' feet. Publicly. Without weighing his reputation. Without calculating his connections. Why? Because his daughter is dying.

The preacher asks the honest question: without this distress, would this man ever have come near Christ? Would he have taken the risk of compromising his position? The answer leans toward no.

Here is a mystery of grace. The situation that bows your head down is sometimes the very thing that leads you to fall at the feet of Jesus. What you called a curse becomes the road to your encounter with him.

4. From the ash heap, he lifts up the poor

Hannah weeps at the sanctuary. She is barren. Peninnah, her husband's other wife, despises her and provokes her. This contempt breaks her. But this contempt also drives her to prayer.

Brother Anthony dares to say this: "Without Peninnah's mockery and contempt, Samuel would not have been born." Without that hardship, a prayer would never have risen to heaven. Without that wound, a particular kind of worship would never have come out of a heart.

Hannah bursts into praise in 1 Samuel 2:2 and following: "There is none holy like the LORD... there is no rock like our God... he raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes."

That is the logic of the God who lifts up. He does not settle for wiping away your tears. He seats you at the table of the great. The situation you are going through today is propelling you toward a place you would never have dared ask for.

5. The LORD renews your strength

When the road is long, when you are ready to let go, when you cannot take any more, God comes to renew your strength. The preacher invites us to declare before the Lord: "It is you, O LORD, who renew my strength. It is you who calm my heart. It is you who give me rest in the middle of trials, in the middle of tribulations."

He makes you rise up like the eagle. You run toward your destiny and you do not grow weary. You walk toward your inheritance and you do not grow faint. Not because you are strong, but because the almighty God is holding you up.

6. Restore unity through prayer

Toward the end of the message, the preacher speaks a particular word to couples and to households. The enemy is looking to break unity apart. He has untied a bond, but he has not broken it.

The key to restoration is not human strategy. It is humbling yourself before the Lord and coming into agreement in prayer. Like Moses, whose hands Aaron and Hur held up on the hill while Joshua fought Amalek below (Exodus 17). A gesture that seems foolish, and that changes the course of the battle.

If you recover the agreement of prayer with your spouse, with your brother, with your sister, it will change the course of your relationship. It will change the course of your household.

Key takeaways

• Your situation has a "so that." It is not there to break you, but so that the works of God may be displayed in you (John 9:3; John 11:4).
• God changes how you see before he changes your circumstance. He tears down the mental strongholds that keep you from seeing clearly, just as he did for Peter (Acts 10:28).
• Distress can be the road to your encounter with Jesus. Jairus would never have drawn near without his daughter's illness.
• From the ash heap, he lifts up the poor to seat them with princes (1 Samuel 2:8). Your place is not in your wound, it is at the King's table.
• The LORD renews your strength. Where you wanted to give up, he makes you rise up like the eagle (an allusion to Isaiah 40:31).
• Prayer in agreement restores what the enemy has untied. Humble yourself before God, come into agreement with your loved ones in prayer.

Personal application

1. What situation is bowing your head down right now? Can you reread it through the "so that" of John 9:3, without denying the pain?
2. What mental stronghold (an inherited way of seeing things, a fixed conviction) is God seeking to tear down in you in order to change your attitude?
3. Like Jairus, is there an area where you are still calculating your reputation before falling at the feet of Jesus? What is holding you back?
4. If you are married, when was the last time you prayed out loud with your spouse? Can you set aside a time of shared prayer this week?
5. Where do you need the LORD to renew your strength today? Take a moment to tell him precisely.

Verses cited

• Psalm 3:3 · "But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head."
• Psalm 23 · The LORD is my shepherd.
• John 9:1-3 · The man born blind and the "so that."
• John 11:4 · This illness does not lead to death.
• John 12:42 · The context of the leaders who feared being put out of the synagogue.
• Acts 10:28 · God has shown me not to call any person common or unclean.
• 1 Samuel 2:1-10 · Hannah's song.
• Isaiah 40:29-31 · Those who wait on the LORD renew their strength.
• Exodus 17:8-13 · Moses, Aaron, and Hur facing Amalek.
• Mark 5:21-24 · Jairus falls at the feet of Jesus.

FAQ

Is God the author of my trial?

The sermon does not say that God sends evil to punish you. It says that God wastes nothing you go through. What bows your head down, he comes to inhabit in order to reveal his works there and to meet you there. The question is not "why" but "what for," toward which "so that" he is directing this season.

How do I know whether I should change how I see things or change my situation?

The preacher insists: God often begins by renewing your understanding. How you assess a situation determines your attitude, and your attitude determines your prayer. Before asking God to change a circumstance, let him change how you see that circumstance, as he did for Peter.

What should I actually do when a bond of prayer with my spouse has come untied?

The enemy may have untied the bond, but he has not broken it. The key, says the sermon, is humility and agreement. Not humbling yourself before the other person, but before the Lord, and finding together, however simple it may be, a time of shared prayer again. That is where God restores what seemed lost.