Be Still: 30 Devotions for the Hopeful HeartSample

Kneeling in Need

Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. PSALM 95:6 NASB

Kneeling, the ultimate display of surrender to authority... Although we would like to say that we assume this position at all times, isn’t it often the moments when we have nothing left that we are brought to our knees?

God made us. He knows the presumptive nature of our deceitful hearts and that we try to do things ourselves until we are at the point of desperation or breaking. These moments become invitations to assume the position that we were meant to live in—kneeling. There, we are humble, surrendered, and fully dependent on our heavenly Father to show up. And when we do? Our hearts are filled with hope. He scoops us up in typical Father fashion and speaks life into our souls.

Don’t you think He deeply desires to have this relationship with us not just on a “have-to” basis? As in, we kneel before our backs are against the wall because the record of our life proves that we will never not need Jesus and He will never not be faithful.

What if, in each moment of stress we experience, instead of whipping out our cell phone and calling a confidant, we took that moment to Jesus? It does not have to be big in order for it to be pressing. Those little moments are the ones that eventually add up to be the mountains we fear we cannot climb. But if, one by one, we decide to take them to the throne and address them with the King, our confidence will grow with each step up the mountain.

The greatest way we could ever spend our time is to be in conversation with God. Whether we are the ones talking or the ones listening, it is our kneeling to His authority that opens the gates of heaven to move on our behalf. Learning His heart equips us with the courage we need for all endeavors and the joy we desire to express amid our journey.

And if it is desperation that takes us to our knees? Take heart. The hard times heighten all our senses as we become more aware and dependent upon His presence.

Dear Jesus, thank You that nothing is too big or too small to bring to Your feet. You desire more than anything for us to stop and kneel so that we can be reminded of who You are and who we are in You. We love You and we kneel before You, giving all of ourselves today. In Jesus’s name, amen.