Photo: Min An from Pexels
“Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.”
PSALM 95:6
The days of actually hanging out on my knees with Jesus are over. For decades this humble posture meant so much to me.
I met the Lord as a junior in high school while attending a small church. The midweek Youth Group circled up around our folded chairs and knelt in prayer with each other about – upcoming tests, relationships, forgiveness, courage and more. Except for a week at camp I don’t recall ever gathering with this group to be entertained.
My best friend met Jesus shortly after me, and I recall a Friday night in her parents’ camper on our knees begging God on behalf of our family and friends who didn’t know Jesus. It was a powerful hour for a couple of 17 year olds.
I met up regularly with Jesus while living in a dorm at the University of Oregon in the late 60’s and early 70’s. The atmosphere was turbulent to say the least. Aggressive activists influenced my safety whether in the dorm or walking past the nearby ROTC building set afire. I found peace on my knees.
In my 20’s and 30’s I knelt beside my bed asking God to protect my husband on his international work travels. And I prayed for wisdom, patience, kindness, and creativity during those years of raising three children. When they grew up and left home for adventures of their own, I again knelt asking God to teach and guide them, as my husband and I entered this new season of releasing what we most loved.
Then came the hardest year of my life -- my first one as a widow.
I think that’s when I stopped bending my knees. Not because I didn’t love God or need Him less or had turned my back on the deeper reality that HE WAS ENOUGH… no, I stopped that posture simply because of aging knees.
That’s when the physical bending of my knees sank even more deeply into the spiritual bending of my will to His. That’s when I sat at my desk, Holy Words open, and asked the Lord to have His way in my pain. That’s where I became convinced that I am never alone.
I love these words in Psalm 95:
Come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come to him with thanksgiving….
Come, let us worship and bow down.
Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,
for He is our God.
We are the people He watches over,
the flock under his care.
I’ve read it over and over today considering not just the posture but also noting the verbs and the transitions: from shouting all the way to bended knee.
I thank the Lord for the journey we’ve traveled together, not just this morning but for decades -- always learning more about who He is and what He’s done. Yes, I know both the shouting AND the bending of His beautiful Presence in my life.
On my knees both literally and figuratively, is where I most easily remember He is God and I am not. HE is God, and I am not. What a peaceful knowing.
Pull up a chair and sit still
Photo: Brett Sayles from Pexels
Are you able to bend your knees today? I believe the invitation is for all of us, some physically, all spiritually. What might He Whisper to you in this quiet place of humility?