![[Photo of man kneeling]](https://www.deankwilson.com/Blog_images/kneel_before_the_Lord.jpg)
| 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. |
| —Psalm 95:6-7 |
When a person enters the presence of a monarch, he or she shows respect and allegiance by kneeling. It is a sign of yielding one’s own will to the will of the monarch. That’s why, in the turmoil of our present culture, kneeling causes such concern for those of us who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only one before whom we feel the urge to kneel.
Kneeling in submission has very powerful implications. When people kneel as part of a so-called peaceful protest, they indicate their submission to whatever group is leading that protest. A commitment to justice for all humans and a desire to see that all humans be given an equal opportunity to lift themselves up in society does not require submission to some secular authority who has become a self-appointed representative of those who believe they are oppressed. Rather, instead of kneeling to show our obedience to such an authority, we need to rise up and speak up for those who are oppressed. We need to do everything we can to promote equal opportunity, while recognizing that the provision of an equal opportunity will not necessarily result in equal achievement. Please allow me to illustrate my point:
Many years ago, when I was part of the group who examined candidates for employment who would fill the position of fire protection engineer at the insurance company where I worked, I was very disappointed to hear older men speak disparagingly of the very few female candidates who applied for the position. Those men expressed an opinion that was clearly biased. They asserted that a woman simply could not perform the tasks associated with the job. I strongly disagreed and began to champion the hiring of women as fire protection engineers.
Now, you must understand that these female candidates had met every qualification. They had earned degrees in fire protection engineering, or in a related field of engineering, from respected colleges and universities. They had shown that they clearly understood the rigorous parts of the job responsibilities. They displayed the kinds of personalities who could stand up to the rough treatment they might receive when inspecting the factories that our insurance company serviced. In every way, they had shown they had the knowledge, skills, and temperament to do the job for which they were applying.
To my great delight, almost every single woman that we hired for the position of fire protection engineer greatly exceeded expectations. Not only did they perform the job tasks with professionalism and excellence, they soon rose through the ranks of the company to hold ever greater levels of responsibility.
Today, an increasing number of women are entering the field of fire protection engineering. And, those women are enthusiastically hired for their skills and training. That I had a very small part in that transition from an all-male endeavor to one now open to every qualified candidate, regardless of gender, gives me joy.
We did not have to change any qualifications of the job to recruit qualified women. The women we hired had already gained the education, knowledge, and training they needed. All we had to do was set aside the long-held prejudice against women in that profession and welcome these qualified candidates into the job force. We did not need to physically kneel before some self-appointed leader of a movement. We simply had to make a completely rational decision to accept the reality that qualified women could perform the tasks associated with the profession.
As followers of Jesus, we need to reserve our kneeling for the one true God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—who is the only One who truly deserves the humble subjection of our foolish human will to His divine, perfect, and holy will. To do otherwise besmirches the reality that God is the only One worthy of our subjection. We bow our knees to God and to Him alone.
