The tattoo

Today for the first time ever, I have seriously begun to consider getting a real tattoo. (Yes, there's a verse in Leviticus 19 that says to not mark your body, but I've kinda moved past that. There's also a verse in Leviticus 19 that says to not take revenge or bear a grudge. Can you please aim that first stone someplace else?) What has really prevented me from getting a tattoo is the fact that I hate needles. Perhaps you remember me mentioning that in this previous post.

In this post, I've shared a picture of my idea for the tattoo that I'm considering. I drew it with a blue pen on the inside of my left forearm (because I'm righthanded), but I would get the actual tattoo on the inside of my right forearm, and ideally it would be smaller and definitely more circular, more professional, and less doodley. There would be a lion and a cobra; circling overhead would be the reference to Psalm 91:13, and underneath would be the reference to Psalm 37:11. I seriously wouldn't mind getting something like this someday at all. (It would be when I have money and job stability, of course.)

For me, the whole point of getting a tattoo in the first place (if I ever decide for sure to go through with it) would be to remind myself of something important. And to look incredibly cool. But mainly just to remind myself of something really important.

"Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; for He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. YOU SHALL TREAD UPON THE LION AND THE COBRA, THE YOUNG LION AND THE SERPENT YOU SHALL TRAMPLE UNDERFOOT." (Psalm 91:9-13, emphasis tattoo-inspiring)

"But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." (Psalm 37:11, a tattoo-supporting promise)

I've read Psalm 91 probably a zillion times, but today verse 13 jumped out at me. If I hang out in the shelter of God's wings and He keeps me safe, I can stomp all over lions and cobras? Me likey!

I'm 100% positive that verse 13 isn't talking about literal lions or cobras. (Not that it couldn't.) I'm pretty sure in this cool-poetic psalm, lions and cobras represent demonic principalities, powers, etc. Or maybe even just trials. Life comes charging at me like a lion? If I'm hanging out in the shadow of God's wings, no problem. I can charge back at the lion and trample him so hard, he'll beg me to adopt him as my pet feline #3. Demonic forces come hissing at me like a cobra? If I'm letting God be my refuge, no worries. I can charm the hisser right into a corner and trample him so hard, he'll look just like that pancake-roadkill snake I accidentally ran over with my car last month.

Of course, this is all ideal. This is the goal. This sounds probably much easier than it probably will be. The whole reason I came across Psalm 91:13 today in the first place was because I was in so much emotional pain, I had to cry on my Daddy's shoulder and let Him comfort me like He would a 3-year-old.

But Psalm 37:11 promises that there's peace in my future -- nay, an abundance of peace. I guess it would be kinda like a Thanksgiving dinner where there's an abundance of food. After stuffing yourself silly with a meal that you've waited to savor all year long, there are so many leftovers that your host/hostess begs you to please take some food home with you. A huge part of my inheritance is an abundance of peace that's so humongous, I'll have to share it with people. This would delight me tremendously.

And, of course, more important than getting a literal tattoo on my physical body would be getting a glow-in-the-dark spiritual tattoo on my heart. It's more important for me to imprint this truth on my insides than it would be to draw it on my outsides (which could possibly distort the artwork by getting fat, sunburned, cat-scratched, etc.).

But the literal tattoo would look so incredibly cool.

There are plenty of ways for me to trample lions and cobras -- not on my own strength but in the authority that Jesus gave me. If a friend is sick, I can chase the spirit of infirmity away through prayer. If I'm struggling emotionally, I can punch the lies in the face by crawling onto my Daddy's shoulder and actually having a conversation with Him where He will be His forever strong, comforting self and I will be my spiritually poor, needy self.

Maybe getting a literal tattoo would be an incredibly cool way to "encourage myself in the Lord." I've noticed that that phrase gets tossed around a lot in the body of Christ. David strengthened or encouraged himself in the Lord in 1 Samuel 30:6, and David is an excellent example of how to follow God, no matter what, in all kinds of crazy circumstances. Incidentally, the context of David encouraging himself in the Lord, in 1 Samuel 30:6, is that, um, the people who were around him (the ones who I think were supposed to have been encouraging him in the first place) wanted to kill him. Now, that's something to think about.

Meanwhile, I'm still thinking about getting a real tattoo. Or maybe I'll dust off my really old idea of getting my eyebrow pierced. Who knows? Compared to what I've been through, maybe a body-art needle wouldn't hurt that badly.