Psalm 95:6

Psalm 95:6

Let us kneel

This verse demands something that I would not have understood in the earlier years of my life. It asks us, firstly, to bow down in worship. Having been in Japan recently, it is not so onerous as you might imagine! Everyone there bows their head to colleagues, friends and total strangers; it is a form of respectful acknowledgement, a way of saying “thank you” without words, a recognition of the deference that another human being is due. Some denominational church members still bow to an altar or to a cross, I’m sure that many do that out of reverence and not just habit. For us all, an attitude of reverence is important when we are in the presence of the Lord, sometimes the shouts and the noise of the earlier verses of the Psalm need to be exchanged for respectful silence and acknowledgement that we are in the presence of One far greater than ourselves. 

But we are encouraged to go further, to kneel in submission and complete humility before the Lord our Maker. To kneel for prayer is a worthy practice if it is a confession of submission to our God, it says more than just words, it expresses an attitude. To submit to God is not just about an occasional bended knee however, it is about giving Him honour in all things, about recognising His power and His presence in every situation. It means that we see Him at work both privately and publicly in all that happens. It means that we discern the hand of God in all circumstances, even those that seem to be working against us. It is about complete and total dependence. That’s the word I have struggled with all my life, dependence. Dependence on the One who is my Maker, my Creator, my King and my God who is worthy of my complete submission. Hallelujah!

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Psalm 4:1 Smear campaigns

Psalm 4:1    Smear campaigns   The background to this Psalm is so familiar; David is being slandered and maligned by his detractors.  It seems that some calamity has befallen the nation and the king is getting the blame! Lies are being told, a smear campaign has begun, and the reputation of the Sovereign is under threat.  As usual, if something goes wrong, culpability is laid at the feet of the one in charge.  David, quite rightly, turns to the Lord his God and prays for relief and for mercy. The Satan is a master of such campaigns and his emissaries gleefully turn on Christians in leadership positions although the whispering campaign can affect all of us. The whispering starts in our own heads, but it can also come from the lips of our detractors. It goes something like this: - You’re the reason it went wrong You messed up again You should have seen it coming Surely you know better You are not worthy You don’t know what you’re doing Someone else ought to be in c
Read more
Psalm4:8        I will lie down and sleep                Th ere are times, in the life of all believers, when we no longer have control of situations. We can do nothing more. We have given our all, we have tried every possible solution and now it is out of our hands. As someone has wisely said, “It is time to let go and let God.” If we truly trust Him, if our faith will allow us, we can turn our backs on our enemies. We can block our ears to the threats. We can ignore the lies and the deceit and say,  “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone Lord, make me dwell in safety.” I should imagine that the devil, having sent a hurricane our way is not amused, when we settle in our beds in the midst of it all and drift off into a peaceful sleep! But that is our right and privilege once we let the Lord God Almighty take control. These spiritual attacks are like whirlwinds, they blow with terrifying intensity and threaten to turn us upside down; the disciples witnessed one of thes
Read more

Psalm 74:16

Psalm 74:16 God established the sun and the moon “ In  the beginning   God created   the heavens   and the earth.   2  Now the earth was formless   and empty,   darkness was over the surface of the deep,   and the Spirit of God   was hovering over the waters. 3  And God said,   “Let there be light,” and there was light.   4  God saw that the light was good,   and he separated the light from the darkness.   5  God called   the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.”   And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.” These, so familiar, words from Genesis 1 remind us of who is in charge! There would be no light without God. There would be no day or night without God. There would be no earth without God. And there would have been no living things unless God had created order out of chaos. The sun, moon and stars would not be fixed in their orbits without God and you and I would not exist unless He ordered our conception. It is because we see God as glorious, righteous
Read more