TO BOW DOWN

There are problems with the bowing down business. The first problem being that we might just analyze bowing down instead of actually bowing down. To analyze it is to resist it (like fasting and giving). Next, is when the practice of bowing down is turned into a threat. Often we hear the passages on bowing down issued as a threat and a demand. For example, Isaiah, a prophet, says, “I have sworn by Myself, the word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness and shall not return, that unto Me every knee will bow and every tongue shall swear allegiance.” (45:23) From this thought of ‘every knee bowing and every tongue confessing’ is often issued a threat to any who have not yet bowed down and not yet confessed. As we hear so often from some frustrated person, “Well, you’ll see, one of these days every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. You’ll see, you’ll see.’”

This kind of threat and thinking is just the opposite of how bowing and kneeling should be. The resistance is in the will and the mind and emotions, even if the body is bent double and bowed down. This is because bowing down is an issue of the heart. To even suggest, by way of threat, ‘someday every knee will bow’ is to miss the purpose in bowing down. It is an invitation, not a threat.

“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength”. Jesus