Though it\u2019s been over a decade, I still remember kneeling with my face to the ground, begging God for a legal way for me and my husband to build a life somewhere else as we faced the political unrest and economic crisis in our country of origin. When my body\u2019s position matched that of my heart, it was an act of absolute surrender and worship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is something about kneeling that involves the whole person; we feel it in our joints and in our shoulders as our physical frame carries the weight that causes our knees to fold. That\u2019s how I imagine the magi\u2019s response. The wording in today\u2019s passage sounds almost instinctive. There\u2019s a physical reaction that expressed what was happening within their hearts: \u201cEntering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and falling to their knees, they worshiped him\u201d (Matthew 2:11).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That day on my knees with my face to the ground, with my great need as my only offering, I looked for hope. Entering God\u2019s presence, all I could do was surrender. The answer to our prayer took time, but God met us in the waiting. The wise men entered that house looking for the Savior of the world and true King, and beholding Him, utter devotion is all they could express with bent knees and with their gifts brought from afar. Something profound happens when we seek Jesus, long for Him, and find our longing finally ends as we enter His presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We see the story of Advent riddled with wonder, danger, promise, and worldly powers with evil in mind. Jesus was born right in the midst of it all! His birth declares, \u201cLord, Your kingdom come.\u201d Advent is when heaven and earth meet, and in that thin space we find Immanuel with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m personally deeply moved by today\u2019s passages. Paul wrote to the Philippians that God exalted Jesus, \u201cso that at the name of Jesus every<\/em> knee will bow\u2013in heaven and on earth and under the earth\u2013and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.\u201d We see this statement affirmed in these wise men, foreigners from afar, who followed the signs they saw to find the Messiah. When they did, they fell to their knees in adoration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Bible says that \u201cfear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom\u201d (Proverbs 9:10). Unlike dread or panic, this fear is awe and reverence. The kind that drew the wise men to their knees, making themselves small before a child who was God incarnate. The immensity of that moment was also a thin space. And when they entered His presence, worship was the only response. Oh, to enter this Advent season small and close to the ground, on our knees, where we can find Immanuel with us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Though it\u2019s been over a decade, I still remember kneeling with my face to the ground, begging God for a legal way for me and my husband to build a life somewhere else as we faced the political unrest and economic crisis in our country of origin. When my body\u2019s position matched that of my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":72672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[307],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advent25"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[72991],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"THE WISE MEN WORSHIP JESUS<\/b> Though it\u2019s been over a decade, I still remember kneeling with my face to the ground, begging God for a legal way for me and my husband to build a life somewhere else as we faced the political unrest and economic crisis in our country of origin. When my body\u2019s position matched that of my heart, it was an act of absolute surrender and worship.<\/p> There is something about kneeling that involves the whole person; we feel it in our joints and in our shoulders as our physical frame carries the weight that causes our knees to fold. That\u2019s how I imagine the magi\u2019s response. The wording in today\u2019s passage sounds almost instinctive. There\u2019s a physical reaction that expressed what was happening within their hearts: \u201cEntering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and falling to their knees, they worshiped him\u201d (Matthew 2:11).<\/p> That day on my knees with my face to the ground, with my great need as my only offering, I looked for hope. Entering God\u2019s presence, all I could do was surrender. The answer to our prayer took time, but God met us in the waiting. The wise men entered that house looking for the Savior of the world and true King, and beholding Him, utter devotion is all they could express with bent knees and with their gifts brought from afar. Something profound happens when we seek Jesus, long for Him, and find our longing finally ends as we enter His presence.<\/p> We see the story of Advent riddled with wonder, danger, promise, and worldly powers with evil in mind. Jesus was born right in the midst of it all! His birth declares, \u201cLord, Your kingdom come.\u201d Advent is when heaven and earth meet, and in that thin space we find Immanuel with us.<\/p> I\u2019m personally deeply moved by today\u2019s passages. Paul wrote to the Philippians that God exalted Jesus, \u201cso that at the name of Jesus every<\/em> knee will bow\u2013in heaven and on earth and under the earth\u2013and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.\u201d We see this statement affirmed in these wise men, foreigners from afar, who followed the signs they saw to find the Messiah. When they did, they fell to their knees in adoration.<\/p> The Bible says that \u201cfear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom\u201d (Proverbs 9:10). Unlike dread or panic, this fear is awe and reverence. The kind that drew the wise men to their knees, making themselves small before a child who was God incarnate. The immensity of that moment was also a thin space. And when they entered His presence, worship was the only response. Oh, to enter this Advent season small and close to the ground, on our knees, where we can find Immanuel with us.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"30","scripture":"Matthew 2:1-23, Philippians 2:9-11","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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