Why Pray On My Knees?
Why should we sometimes get down on our knees to pray? Let’s look at the perspective of the early church.
We kind of touched on this last week, but it’s a common thread we see throughout the book of Acts. When the church got on their knees to pray, it showed dependence on and desperation for God. They told God, “We need you to show up in this situation.” And there was this sense of desperation that God was the only person they could go to.
Maybe we’ve lost some of that. Maybe we don’t feel as dependent on talking to God as we should. Maybe far too often we try to handle the pressures of life in our own strength.
A number of years ago, during the Rose Bowl Parade, everything was going well when all the sudden the parade came to a grinding halt. The reason was because one of the floats ran out of gas. The irony was that the float that ran out of gas was sponsored by the Standard Oil Company. Get this. The theme of the float was, “Be Prepared.”
As God’s people, we’ve got vast reservoirs of power at our disposal. I just wonder how often we fail to tap into them. The Christian life is too big, and we are too small to start anywhere except down on our knees as an act of humbleness before God.
When we’re on our knees, we’re defenseless. We’re vulnerable. And we’re in a position where we can’t do anything offensively. Think about it. An army general doesn’t say, “Okay troops, we’re getting ready to attack. In just a minute, I’m gonna need everybody to get down on your knees. Let’s move out.” You don’t do that! When we kneel in prayer, we’re not in charge. Kneeling in prayer is an act of worship.
Now, the word for “worship” in its earliest usages described people who would fall to the ground prostrate before their gods, and it literally means to bow and to kiss. So, you could imagine a person in worship kissing the feet of the one he or she is paying homage to or adoring. That involves lowering yourself and humbling yourself before God. It’s an acknowledgment of the worthiness of God. Now, there’s not one correct posture for worshipping God or praying to God. Posture is useful only when it expresses the reality of the heart. So, we have to remember that. And we have to be careful about it as well.
God told the Israelites in Isaiah 1:13,15…
Stop bringing useless offerings. Your incense is detestable to me… When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will refuse to look at you; even if you offer countless prayers, I will not listen…
Why? Well, God was tired of their obligatory prayers. He was tired of their memorized and rote prayers. It was as if they weren’t putting any thought into what they were saying to God.
I can be guilty of that sometimes. Before dinner each night, our family usually prays together. Sometimes when I pray, it’s short and sweet and often verbatim of what I prayed the night before. And sometimes after my prayer, my wife will look at me and say, “You wanna try that again?”
That’s what they were doing 700 years before Jesus was born. And God said to them, “You know what? That’s detestable to me. I don’t even want to hear it.”
Yet God delights in physical expression when it expresses our inward reality of humility and reverence.
Psalm 95:6 says…
Come, let’s worship and bow down; let’s kneel before the LORD our Maker.
You see, when God gives a fresh vision of his holiness, you might fall on your knees out of respect and reverence. You might even weep before him as you think of his kindness, love, grace, and mercy for you.
Back in the Old Testament book of 1 Chronicles chapter 29, King David is worshiping God. You can feel the passion and love David has for God in that moment. Instead of asking God for things, he simply praises God for who he is. Then after sensing God’s glory and presence, look at what David and this huge gathering of Jewish people do…
…the whole assembly praised the LORD God of their ancestors. They knelt low and paid homage to the LORD and the king.
Bowing low is a natural response to God’s glory and power.
Former Attorney General John Ashcroft in his book, Lessons from a Father to a Son, tells of when he was growing up being awakened every morning by his dad’s audible prayers in the other room. It was something that stuck with him throughout his whole life. On the day John was being installed as a U.S. Senator, he stopped to see his father because his father wanted to pray with him about his new role. When John arrived, his father was very sick, and he tried to get out of bed to pray with his son. John told his dad, “You don’t need to try and stand.” And his father replied, “I’m not struggling to stand. I’m struggling to kneel.” John says that’s why he still starts every day with prayer and devotional time with God.
What if our sons and daughters occasionally walked in on us and caught us praying?
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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.