Bow the Knee

I am moved by music and poetry. I love the pictures that are painted by rhythms played in a steady meter and words spoken or sung in rhythm. Even though I was trained classically and love classical music, I get bored without words after very many minutes of instrumental music alone. Don't misunderstand me here, though. I love to go to symphonies, but I couldn't do it very often, because I love words and miss the words when they are not present. I am not one who just "likes" a piece of music for the instrumentation, or chord progressions, or melody, or rhythm. I am a lyric-listener. I love lyrics. The anthem the choir at church is singing in the morning is one of my favorites! The lyrics are beautiful and true, and supporting the lyrics is a soothing melody with gorgeous chord progressions.  It is "Bow the Knee" by Chris Machen and Mike Harland. 


The lyrics are:
"There are moments on our journey following the Lord Where God illumines ev’ry step we take. 
There are times when circumstances make perfect sense to us, As we try to understand each move He makes.
But when the path grows dim and our questions have no answers, turn to Him.

"Bow the knee: Trust the heart of your Father when the answer goes beyond what you can see.
Bow the knee; Lift your eyes toward heaven and believe the One who holds eternity.
When you don’t understand the purpose of His plan, In the presence of the King, bow the knee.

"There are days when clouds surround us, and the rain begins to fall,
The cold and lonely winds won’t cease to blow.
And there seems to be no reason for the suffering we feel; We are tempted to believe God does not know.
When the storms arise, don’t forget we live by faith and not by sight.


"Bow the knee: Trust the heart of your Father when the answer goes beyond what you can see.
Bow the knee; Lift your eyes toward heaven and believe the One who holds eternity.
When you don’t understand the purpose of His plan, In the presence of the King, bow the knee."


Then, at the end, in an almost- a capella ending, it repeats:
"When you don't understand the purpose of His plan, in the presence of the King, bow the knee."


How many times have I not known what to do, what decision to make, which path to take, and all I could do is walk by faith? How many times in my life have I felt alone, like no one understood my situation and no one even cared to understand? Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever felt all alone on your journey? 


But I am reminded that we serve and follow a Sovereign God. Nothing that happens to us catches Him by surprise. All the days ordained for us were written in His book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:16). He is omniscient. His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). We cannot put God in a box and limit Him to our understanding of Him, because He is incomprehensible. We will spend eternity learning more and more about God, never knowing all there is to know about Him, because He is so much more than what our finite minds can even begin to comprehend. And I am glad. I can trust a God like that. He never changes, and I love that about Him. He is faithful, always keeping His promises, slow to anger and abounding in love, and patient with us. He never changes in His Attributes.


That being said, He is also a jealous God, also a God Who doesn't tolerate sin. He is also a God that demands holy, righteous living from mankind. But thank God that He made Jesus, Who knew no sin, to be sin for me, so that in Him I might become the righteousness of God! (2 Corinthians 5:21) He looks at me and sees Jesus' righteousness and Jesus' holiness, because Jesus has already paid the price for my sin, and I accepted Jesus' sacrifice as the propitiation of my sin.


But knowing all of that, every now and then, I like to meditate on His tenderness with me. I like to remember that although He is a demanding Heavenly Father, He is also my Heavenly Daddy, Who loves me very much and Whom I can trust, because He knew my situation and started working on my behalf before it was even "my situation."  And just knowing that He will always allow that to happen which brings about the most glory for Himself, and since I was created for His glory, I can trust Him to work all things for the good. 


So, if you are going through a trial so painful you think you cannot breathe, or if you are going through the fire so hot that you think there is no hope of ever coming out of it, let me encourage you to "BOW THE KNEE, trust the heart of the Father when the answer goes beyond what you can see. Bow the knee, lift your eyes toward heaven and believe the One Who holds eternity. When you don't understand, the purpose of His plan, in the presence of the King, bow the knee."