You have given a banner to those who fear you, that it may be displayed because of the truth.  Psalm 60:4

Jehovah Nissi has been my favorite name for God for a long time. In difficult times, I held onto God’s promises and envisioned them as a banner over my head.  God is His Word and God says that He is there gracing my life with His presence. 

What tight spot are you in today?  Over what is your heart aching?  Whose words have left you feeling powerless?  What spiritual test are you currently enduring?  Where are you tired of waiting on God?  God has a word for us, posted on a banner, for every kind of life scenario. 

Jehovah Nissi first came alive for me when I was in my mid-thirties.  Because I started performing in public events so young in life, I had some trauma that came back to bite me.  In the late 1980’s, I suffered persistent anxiety attacks before every concert, which at that time, numbered over a hundred a year.  I sat backstage, watched the clock, and as it ticked down to performance time, I got increasingly upset.  I felt trapped.  The clock became synonymous with a ticking time bomb.  Every tick moved me closer to a detonation. As anxiety ramped up, I often crashed, and either forced myself to perform while stuffing my panic, or cancelling at the last moment.  

A period of counseling proved to be lifesaving as I dealt with the past, unrealistic expectations placed on me as a child/musician, and my inability to say no to those who asked too much of me.  God gloriously healed me from anxiety (and it’s gone to this day) but how He did it was through His name, Jehovah Nissi.  He revealed that although my life was short and frail, He does not weaken or fail with the passage of time. He controls it and is, in fact, outside of it.  He is Lord over time.  The ticking clock was nothing but smoke.  “For a thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.”  Psalm 90:4

Eventually, I could look at the clock backstage and be unmoved.  I could see my Eternal God as my banner, working outside of time, inviting me into spacious places with Him, out of confinement.  I felt suspended from the pressure.  Jehovah Nissi connected me with eternity, something infinitely bigger than a 90-minute concert, and walked with me onto the stage.  He was a banner, a tent, over my head.  I felt cocooned and safe and began to enjoy the adventure of singing, telling stories, and finding ways to share my passion over spiritual things.   

Today, no matter where you and I go, we need only be still, picture the banner, and know that He is with us.  His truth is holding us, surrounding us, cocooning us, and suspending us above the pressure.  May God give you the eyes to see the flag gently waving in response to the wind of the Spirit. 

You are the banner that goes with me into battle.  I will never lose my bearings.  Amen