Becky Crenshaw

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. Psalm 100:4 KJV

Enter His gates with a song of thanksgiving. And His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, bless and praise His name. Psalm 100:4 AMP

Bless (bāraḵ): to bend the knee. to kneel down; by implication to bless God (as an act of adoration). to invoke God. to celebrate. to adore.

Where are you right now? Reading this? Are you sitting cozy in your arm chair, coffee in hand? Are you lying in bed, reading before you rise to begin your day? Maybe you are checking email in morning car line and opened this email.

If you have a routine time with Jesus, chances are there is a space you prefer for this meeting together. Me, I have sat at the end of our dining room table for 12 years – blogging, journaling, praying and posting. Yes, February 27th, 2010 this blog began and I have found my most common quiet time spot in this chair.

All this to say, my soul got a little jolt this morning when I read Psalm 100:4 in good ‘ol King James.

Be thankful and bless His name. Bless? What exactly does this look like?

Well one way it looks is not sitting upright in my dining room chair. But on my knees beside it.

Yes…. be thankful and kneel before Him. Kneeling is a blessing posture of praise. (see The Amplified version…. bless & praise)

So I guess this is a confession of sorts: I am not a kneeler. I’m a sitter. But a wanna-be kneeler.

I really have always been drawn to those who say, “I’ve been on my knees before the Lord….” or something similar. Always wondering – were they literally on their knees? Or is this a metaphorical “on their knees”?

Either way – King David is saying that blessing the Lord involves kneeling. So I want to practice this praise posture in my time with Jesus. And you know what makes kneeling a RESPONSE verses a requirement? STUDYING HIS HOLINESS.

Yes. When I ponder the separated perfection of our eternal God I find myself out of this seat and on my knees before I know it. Today, sit in awe of God’s holiness with me. And let me encourage you… BLESS HIS NAME. Bend the knee (bāraḵ) as an act of adoration. Maybe this is a little unfamiliar to you…. its ok. Give it a whirl and notice how your heart follows your surrender. Kneeling before God is one way I really remember – Oh yes. Less of me. More of Him.

Enjoy this excerpt from BST/Crosswalk and let deepen your understanding of His Holiness.

“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord Almighty” Revelation 4:8

The word holy means sacred, set apart, revered, or devine. And yet none of those words is adequate to describe the awesome holiness of our God. The word holiness refers to His separateness, His otherness, the fact that He is unlike any other being. It indicates His complete and infinite perfection. Holiness is the attribute of God that binds all the others together.

That God is holy means he is endlessly, always perfect. And his standard for us is perfection as well. “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect,” Jesus says in. Matthew 5:4. That’s why we need Christ. Without Christ taking the place for us and dying for our sins, we would all fall short of God’s holy standard.

Tozer says this about what God’s holiness demands: “Since God’s first concern for His universe is its moral health, that is, its holiness, whatever is contrary to this is necessarily under His eternal displeasure. To preserve His creation God must destroy whatever would destroy it. When He arises to put down iniquity and save the world from irreparable moral collapse, He is said to be angry. Every wrathful judgment in the history of the world has been a holy act of preservation. The holiness of God, the wrath of God, and the health of the creation are inseparably united. God’s wrath is His utter intolerance of whatever degrades and destroys.”

Thankfully, the Christian will never have to experience God’s holy wrath poured out. Through Christ’s death and resurrection. the penalty for our sins was paid and we were credited with Christ’s righteousness. Now, when God looks on us, he sees Christ’s perfect holiness! Hallelujah!