Sitting Before the King

Now Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; and the sons of Israel listened to him and did as the LORD had commanded Moses. (Deut 34:9)

I’m not sure how it started. But, when we pray together as a family, we normally hold hands. Sometimes this holding of hands has been difficult when there was a relationship problem between some of the young children. Our hands may seem like little more than tools on the end of our arms with little to do with our emotions and spirit. But, we are not neatly divided in three pieces of body, soul and spirit. In reality, we all recognize that we are highly integrated beings. Our body expresses in action what we are thinking and feeling. If we have negative thought patterns toward a person, we may try to hide it, but it will inevitably be manifest in our body language.

Mainly because of laziness, I’m tempted to isolate prayer to a mental process. But, when we enter into our closet for prayer, why not actually kneel, stand or lie before God in coordination with our thoughts and feelings. Actually verbalizing my words with the physical action of my tongue seems to make my prayers more focused and solid. Raising my hands as I offer them to God’s service seems more consistent with the prayer than letting them lie resting in my lap.

Obviously, God could have filled Joshua with His Spirit without Moses’ touch. Yet, God chose to honor not only the words of Moses but also Moses’ body language in transferring power and authority to Joshua. In addition, we know that the body language of hugs is vital to communicate love to our children. They need our loving touch as much as they need our words of love. In a similar way, prayer is more than our thoughts or our words. It is also the offering of our body as a living sacrifice for His service. Our good deeds are a body language that expresses our thoughts and beliefs. Which is more logical and consistent with our actual beliefs -- to sit before the King of the Universe or to bow before His Majesty?

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

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