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Child's Pose

A few years ago I began a stretching and exercise regimen that involves a mixture of Pilates and yoga movements.  One of the movements is called child's pose.  It involves getting on my hands and knees, sitting back on my heels, putting my forehead on the floor and stretching my hands out in front of me. Every time I get in this position I think about being bowed down before my heavenly Father in child's pose.

In ancient Near Eastern cultures this type of bow was symbolic of complete submission before a greater and stronger person. A warrior would bow himself before someone who had defeated him in battle. The implied message was that the defeated warrior was helpless before the victorious warrior. As an act of submission, Muslims still bow before Allah in this way during their daily prayers.

There are several Bible passages that speak of bowing before God in submission. It is not a Biblical mandate that every Christian has to get in child's pose before God, everyone is not even able to physically get into (or get up from) this position. On the other hand, God through the Holy Spirit might ask us to literally bow before him physically as a symbol of our submission to him. Regardless of our physical posture before God we need to be bowed before him in our hearts.  We are his children and we are utterly dependent upon our Father for forgiveness through Jesus, and direction and correction through the Holy Spirit.

Psalm 95:6-7 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. NIV
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