The Man Who Knelt - Understanding the Power of Reverence

"From where George was, it looked for a moment as if Brother Kayser had fainted. He had stood up, and turned his back to the circle of people, facing his chair. Then his knees had shot forward slightly and buckled. Yet no one jumped to steady him. In a moment, he was kneeling squarely on the wooden floorboards. 

  

George stared in fascinated amazement. A man kneeling in public?

Brother Kayser prayed and it seemed to George that he was talking to someone who moved into the room and stood in great power so close to this man that he had to submit in a physical way. 

"...for Christ's sake. Amen." Never before had George Mueller seen any man kneel down to pray." - Faith Coxe Bailey, George Mueller

It was strange to George Mueller to see a man kneel to pray. He had never seen it before. 

He had grown up in the church, he was twenty years old and studying to be a clergyman - how is it that he had never seen a man bow down before God? 

This statement shows that there was something very important missing, or at least becoming scarce, in the church of his time. That something is a reverence for God. 

"Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”

So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” (Exodus iii.1-5)

The word reverence simply means 'deep honour or respect felt or shown'. It is an attitude that is demonstrated in word, tone, and deed. Moses, for instance, demonstrated reverence by taking off his sandals. Reverence was scarce in the church of England in the early 1800's and it is even more so in the church of North America today. 

Have you been present in a group of Christians when someone, often a new believer, says they don't know how to pray? The response to such a statement is often something like this: "There isn't really a right or a wrong way to pray - just talk to God in the same way that you would talk to anyone else." Most of the church would agree with that method of interacting with God. It sounds good. People need to understand that God is approachable. That praying is easy. Right? 

Wrong. There is actually a right way to pray. There is a right way and a wrong way to interact with God that applies to every situation - in speech and in action. That way is with reverence. 

Reverence isn't easy. It demands that we focus on our God, instead of ourselves or the other things that so easily distract us, and that we give Him the honour and respect that He is due. The truth is that God isn't approachable except through the blood of Jesus Christ. He is holy, holy, holy and we are interact with God in a way that is very different from how you would interact with an acquaintance, with a friend, or even with your earthly authorities.

 In Daniel iii. we see that King Nebuchadnezzer wanted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego to show reverence to the god he had made. They refused at the risk of their lives, saying "let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” (Daniel iii. 18) Why would they refuse to serve or worship the image? The answer seems simple - because it was an idol.  But was it solely because it was an idol that they refused to bow down to it? What if Nebuchadnezzer had commanded them to worship him instead, would that have been alright? Of course not! That is because reverence that is meant for God alone - it is not to be given to idols nor to men. Thus, men and objects are not to be treated like God which would indicate that God is not meant to be treated like men or objects. Rather the living God, the God who made you and who gave His life to save you, should be treated with the deepest respect and the greatest honour. He should be treated with the reverence that is due to Him alone.  

That is what Brother Kayser demonstrated to George Mueller when he knelt to pray.  

"George wrapped his coat around his shoulders, in preparation to go out into the brisk night air. A questioned filled his mind. 

"Why, Beta? Why was he kneeling?" He said, turning to his companion.

Beta's eyes darted first to Wagner, the man in whose house they had met, and then back to George. "Don't tease, George. It's always done. At least here." He whispered; his brow furrowed. Why did George always have to make trouble? Beta was certain that his friend's sole purpose in coming to the meeting was to do so and he wasn't entirely mistaken. 

But George had forgotten about his original objective and didn't even notice his friend's apprehensiveness, which previously should have afforded him great fun. "Not where I've been." George replied, "But why?" Suddenly he knew the answer to his own question. "I know why. He had to kneel because he wanted to tell God that he was humble and human and that God was almighty and all-wise. He was showing his awe, his fear, his adoration, Beta!"

"Something like that."

"What a man he must be to do that!" 

They were nearly to the door now. Wagner stood nearby, helping people into their coats and grasping their hands warmly as they went out. "Remember, Herr Mueller, house and heart are open to you. Come back." He said, as he shook George's hand.

"To prostrate yourself before the all-powerful God. This is true worship." George thought out loud. 

Wagner's hand paused on the doorknob. "Herr Mueller?" 

"Herr Wagner, what I saw in your house tonight, I'll never forget. A man who knelt to pray to his God!" - Faith Coxe Bailey, George Mueller

The church has largely lost reverence and with it we have lost the power of reverence! 

A power that enables us to demonstrate God to the watching world. The way that you act toward someone tells everyone around something about that person. For example, if you were to bow as a person passes by those around you would deduct that he or she is an important person. Or, if you get extremely excited about getting to see someone an onlooker could imply that they are someone who means a great deal to you and are likely also an enjoyable person to be around. Likewise, Brother Kayser's humble approach to God showed George that God was almighty and all-wise.

 Reverence is not only meant to give God the respect and honour He is due, it also reveals to the watching world that He is due honour and respect. It's actually a witnessing tool. A way in which we are making Him known to the world around us. Our actions and our words are telling the world something about the God we serve. The question is, are they seeing Him as our friend, like any other friend, or as the Lord who out of love decided to call us friends instead of servants? Are we demonstrating him to be a father, like any earthly father, or to be the perfect, heavenly Father who is deserving of complete obedience and respect? Does He come across to them as just another person or as God of all? 

"There was almost nothing to say to Beta on the way home, and George left him with relief at the corner. At his lodgings at last, he walked through his neat, bare study room without lighting a lamp. Crossing over to his bedroom, he sat down in darkness. 

What had happened to him? Because he was curious, he had walked into a man's house, expecting to sing a few hymns, absent-mindedly, and pick up a few phrases to use in goading Beta later. What was there in a man kneeling on the floor beside a chair to shake him this way? 

It was because that man showed with every muscle of his body that he worshiped, feared, and really knew the living God. What kind of a man! And what kind of a God! 

That was it, of course. For years he had known the facts of atonement, had understood perfectly that Jesus Christ had died on the cross to save a guilty world. But this atonement had never lived, because, to George, God had not really lived. He understood that now. Because he had seen a man kneeling to pray, he had seen God also." - Faith Coxe Bailey, George Mueller

Most of us put a great deal of thought into how we should present the gospel, and that is a good thing. But have you ever paused to consider that in every word and act, even those as simple as kneeling to pray, you demonstrate who God is. An act or word may appear too simple or too insignificant, to change a man's heart and yet it was just such an act that God used to prove himself to George Mueller. The way in which we interact with our God directly affects the world's understanding of Him, so let's not allow reverence to be lost in our generation!

"Who would not fear You, O King of the nations? For this is Your rightful due. For among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You." (Jeremiah x.7)

In Christ

quiana