“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.”
A Man Kneeling in Public
This was a strange sight to George Mueller. But it shouldn’t have been.
He grew up in the church. At twenty years old, he was studying to be a clergyman. Why had he never seen a man bow down before God?
Something important was missing, or at least becoming scarce, in the church of George Mueller’s time. It wasn’t just the physical action of a man bending his knee to pray. It went deeper than that.
They were missing a reverence for God.
What is Reverence?
The word reverence means “deep honour or respect felt or shown.”
Reverence is an attitude of heart – a deep respect for another. Which, in the context of the church, would be a deep respect for God.
We too easily forget that our God is holy, holy, holy. It is He who made us and He who gave His life to save us. He is God. As such He should be treated with the deepest respect and the greatest honour. He should be treated with reverence.
An Outward Demonstration
Reverence is to be felt, it is also to be shown.
In Exodus iii. Moses sees a burning bush and draws near to discover why it is not consumed. From the midst of the bush God called out to Moses and this is what 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.5)
Moses was instructed to show reverence by taking his sandals off.
Just as you or I would bow before an earthly king, so can we demonstrate respect for the heavenly King through our actions. This is just what Brother Kayser did when he knelt to pray.
True Worship
“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!”
A Watching World
Reverence was scarce in the church of England in the early 1800’s. It is even more so in the church of North America today.
The church has largely lost reverence and with it, the power of reverence.
Reverence does not only give God the honour and respect He’s due, it also reveals to the watching world that He is due honour and respect.
It’s a witnessing tool. A way in which we can make Him known.
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?
It Changed George Mueller’s Life
“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.“
You might think a single act or word is insignificant, that it doesn’t make any difference. But it was just such an act that God used to change George Mueller’s heart.
The way we interact with our God affects the world’s understanding of Him. 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
*All quotes and excerpts were taken from George Mueller, written by Faith Coxe Bailey.
*Scripture references in NKJV unless otherwise noted.
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