Raise a Banner

I remember when I first started going to church, I’d hear terms that I didn’t understand or which didn’t make any sense to me, such as Jehovah, and Yahweh, which are Hebrew names for God.  That was many years ago, and there are still times that I’ll hear or see something that I still don’t fully understand. A while back, our youth pastor, David, said something that really opened my eyes to one of those “terms.”

There are many names for God; two I like are Jehovah Jireh, meaning Lord my Provider, and Jehovah Shalom, Lord of Peace, both of which are pretty self-explanatory. But one I never really understood was Jehovah Nissi, the Lord is my Banner. David explained that in early battle days, flag bearers would proceed into battle carrying a banner, which depicted their country or cause. I read that the flags were to help the soldiers identify their position, since at the end of a battle line, they may not have been able to hear commands from the officers, but they were trained to follow the banner. Flags were also staked at camp serving as a rally point, so that in the chaos of battle, soldiers always knew where it was safe to retreat. So, if God is a Banner, we can be confident that He goes before us in our times of battle, to take the heavy fire, so that we can march on towards our goal, our victory. He is a place of refuge when we need to rest and recharge and He serves to boost our morale when we feel defeated.

We sing a song in church that says to “raise the banner, raise it high, Jesus glorify.” When I think of “raising a banner,” I visualize someone waving a large flag, like a color guard on the field of a football game and I would wonder, how does that glorify Jesus? But with this new revelation, I can sing this song now with fresh eyes, a new passion; to raise God up, to lift Him higher than anything else, because to Him goes ALL the glory.