Somewhere We Stopped Kneeling

I get up every morning at 4 AM and read at least one chapter from the Bible. Then I get down on the floor on my knees and elbows with my face in my hands and pray. If I had a mat I'd look Muslim. I assume this position for the following two reasons:

1) It allows me at the beginning of every morning to establish in my mind my relationship to God, and

2) I think He likes it.

I attended a Bible study several years ago that always ended with a time of prayer. These were good and devout people and so I felt no compunction when I asked one night if we could have our prayer time on our knees. We did, but not before there were a couple of smirks and uneasy smiles. It seemed obvious that I'd made my friends uncomfortable. This seemed odd because I remembered Thursday night prayer meetings from my childhood where the same kind of people knelt to pray... and I vividly remember my parents getting on their knees which left a lasting impression.

When I look back through the Old and New Testaments I'm struck by the way the faithful men and women held the Lord in such reverence and awe. These people were not humorless, but they stressed, and took very seriously, the holiness of their Creator... and their respect and admiration more often than not manifested itself in some physical expression of humility... bowing, kneeling, or lying prostrate.

To the 21st century Christian it all seems so primitive and overly demonstrative. These are actions that I would not feel comfortable displaying in public. While I've often been moved emotionally and spiritually at church, I confess I'm much too proud and dignified to emote in any physical display. I'm not suggesting that staid, quiet, and dignified worship is wrong, but it still may be symptomatic of a spiritual shortcoming.

It should probably come as no surprise that the richest Christians in the world should be the most prideful... the most unfaithful and forgetful in the Kingdom. We are insulated from the most common discomforts, waltzing through life on our own terms... proud and independent. We can buy our way into a million different entertainments and distractions that leave us making appointments and space for God. We have a way of organizing everything into its proper place, with balance and our sense of propriety as our guide. God is there... right where we put Him. He is an important part of this tapestry that is our life... and He is there, right where we decided it was appropriate, expedient, and convenient to weave Him in.

Considering that its easier for a camel to go through the needle's eye than it is for us to enter heaven, proud is perhaps the last thing we should be. When we consider how selfishly forgetful we are... how much like the world... how negligent, inattentive, and casual our homage... Maybe we should humbly thank God every day for making us a beautiful bride... thank him daily for His ultimate sacrifice that made us a people He could bear to look at.

And consider that it might please Him if at least once a day we stepped away from our pride and dignity long enough to kneel and give Him that which is His due.