Bowing Down
Why Is It Important? | Listen instead.
“Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!” Psalm 95:6
The Hebrew term “kara,” used in today’s Scripture, means “to bow down, bring low, kneel, subdued.”
Some people bow their heads when they pray, some kneel, as the Psalmist suggests, and some may even lie prostrate before the LORD. To bow is a form
of worship; it is an outward expression of an internal attitude. In this humble and vulnerable position of submission we acknowledge our dependence on our Creator and Savior—the One who is greater than we are and the One who can deliver us from our troubles.
When Jesus began his Sermon on the Mount, he said, “Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven” Matthew 5:3.
Bowing is an attitude of poverty—spiritual poverty, of being brought low, of being poor in Spirit*. It is recognizing we are powerless to help ourselves and that nothing in us naturally chooses to follow God’s ways. The Scripture declares, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one" (Romans 3:10-12).
Bowing is a position of submission. Servants bow to their masters. Philippians 2:5-8 says, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Jesus had equal status with God, but he gave up all his privileges to become a servant. He did this for one purpose: to buy us back, to redeem us—the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. We too are to have Jesus’ attitude—to empty ourselves so that God can fill us with his Spirit in order to serve Him and others.
Bowing is a recognition that we cannot save ourselves or go it alone. We need God's mercy and our Savior’s sacrifice to forgive us and cleanse us, so that we are no longer subdued by our sins and failures, but are free to stand back up and continue serving the One who is worthy of praise, and glory, and honor!
Oh friends, let us have hearts that desire to worship and bow down to the LORD our Maker! Let us bless Him today!
Copyright 2022 S. A. Keith
Photography by: Ben White @unsplash.com
*see the BE-Attitudes
lessons for Adult Study.
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