To end our week, a second day to reflect upon this great Psalm!
Psalm 103‘Heavy is the head that wears the crown.’ This quote (or rather slight misquote!) from Shakespeare’s Henry IV is a great observation about the challenges of leadership and responsibility. Such things weigh upon us. Indeed, a literal crown for most monarchs is usually a heavy object: the King Edward Crown of King Charles III weighs nearly 5lbs! Try wearing that for a long ceremonial occasion. The King might well have neck muscles like those on a Formula 1 racing driver.
But there is a crown which does not weigh heavy. It is the crown mentioned here in verse 4: the crown of God’s love and compassion. What a beautiful phrase this is! God does not just offer us, or give us, these things: he crowns us with them.
The image suggests that these things are of great value – both to the giver and also to the wearer. To wear a crown is be bestowed with great worth. And so we are to God: the Lord thinks the world of us. He made no-one else like us. We bear his image. We are of infinite worth to him. So yes, we can rightly describe God’s love and compassion as a crown – just let that thought sink in for a moment, and warm your heart.
But let us also remember that to give us this crown, God also wore one while on earth. The only crown God ever wore was one of thorns: the ultimate act of self-giving love. A crown which weighed little in grams but weighed everything in cost. When God crowns us, let us never forget what crown God kept for himself.
We may never get to wear a physical crown. But today, let us rejoice that we wear a spiritual one. One given to us at such a cost: the crown of God’s love and compassion. And may that crown be worn not just in our heads, but also in our hearts.
Gracious God, thank you that I am worth everything to you. I gladly receive your crown of love. Fill me with your compassion, too, that I might also pass that on to others. Bless the Lord, my soul. Amen.