More analysis of the lyrics of the Rush CD Snakes and Arrows .

I thought about all the masks, mascara (for the women), war paint, facepaint, mime makeup that we wear from time to time and why we choose to do so. Shame of who, what, where, and why we are. Wanting to camoflauge with the rest of the world. Fearing that people may see the real you that you self-hate. Fearing that people that see the real you will ‘reject’ you.

“Bravest Face”

Though we might have precious little
It’s still precious

I like that song
About this wonderful world
It’s got a sunny point of view
And sometimes I feel it’s true
At least for a few of us

I like that world
It makes a wonderful song
But there’s a darker point of view
That’s sadly just as true
For so many among us

In the sweetest child there’s a vicious streak
In the strongest man there’s a child so weak
In the whole wide world there’s no magic place
So you might as well rise, put on your bravest face

I like that show
Where they solve all the murders
That heroic point of view
It’s got justice and vengeance too
At least so the story goes

I like that story
Makes a satisfying case
But there’s a messy point of view
That’s sadly just as true
For so many among us

In softest voice there’s an acid tongue
In the oldest eyes there’s a soul so young
In the shakiest will there’s a core of steel
On the smoothest ride there’s a squeaky wheel
In the sweetest child there’s a vicious streak
In the strongest man there’s a child so weak
In the whole wide world there’s no magic place
So you might as well rise, put on your bravest face
Put on your bravest face

Though we might have precious little
It’s still precious

In the whole wide world there’s no magical place
So you might as well rise, put on your bravest face
You might as well Rise!!!, Put on your bravest face
Put on your bravest face

I do have precious little and it is precious to me. However, I fail to realize that in some areas, the precious little is actually the priceless much that I have failed to realize what I had. Even Gideon tried to convince God that he was the least important person in the weakest clan of the Israelites. Gideon felt as if he had little value, little skill, little ambitions. But God saw the priceless much in him (Judges 6:11-25) and gave him orders to tear down the altars of Baal and sacrifice his father’s young bull to God.

Gideon feared wrath and did this in the middle of the night instead of in broad daylight and the men of the city became upset to where they found out that Gideon did this and approached Gideon’s father Joash to bring out Gideon to where he could be killed.

However, let’s look at what Joash said in Judges 6:31-32:

But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you plead for Baal? Would you save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead for himself, because his altar has been torn down!” Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, “Let Baal plead against him, because he has torn down his altar.”

Joash’s words at first sound so noble in the act of defending his son. They even appear to be ’spiritual’ challenging Baal against the Lord God Almighty. However, Joash changed Gideon’s name from Gideon to Jerrubal. From ‘warrior’ to ‘Baal will plead against him’. In other words, Joash wore the mask of Baal to appease the people and mentally placed a mental mask on Gideon in an attempt to re-identify him as being something else he wasn’t.

In a loyal man there’s a sold-out traitor
In a faithful man, there’s a betraying fiend
Joash rose up and placed the mask that would imply the bravest face over his head to save face.

What we saw was simply “Flesh’ attempting to be ‘masked’ but manifesting more and worse traits of the flesh. The same flesh that causes the acid tounge to sometime manifest from the weakest voice. The same flesh that causes the tantrum to sometimes manifest in the sweetest child

But God saw through it all in Judges 6:33 where it states:

Then all the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34 But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon; then he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him.

God still called him Gideon and Gideon still knew within the deep confines of his being that he was really “Gideon” instead of “Jerrubal”. Gideon refused to wear/acknowledge the mask and instead was more of himself who in reality was what God called him to be. Where Joash hid his flesh with the mental masking but still manifested the flesh, Gideon came with the unmasked face of flesh and walked away touched by the Spirit of God.

In the weakest tribe there is the strongest warrior.
In the unfavored son there is a man of valor.
Gideon rose up and showed himself and his flesh with the Fear of God inside of him to face God to be saved!

The same God that sometimes will use the foolishness to confound the wise when the weakest man rises up showing the strength of steel. When the shyest woman rises up to be the boldest witness and the adamant defender of the faith.