Bowing Low

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

BOWING LOW

Gen 18:1-5

18:1 The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. 2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. 3 He said, "If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. 4 Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. 5 Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way — now that you have come to your servant." "Very well," they answered, "do as you say."

NIV

This is just the beginning of another exciting chapter in Abraham's life. Again, the LORD appeared to him, this time near the great trees of Mamre. It is thought these were great oak trees with twisted trunks and great branches reaching out in different directions. There would have been a large encampment, many tents, for all the men and women servants, and any other people in the household of Abraham. It is thought his tent was under one of those great trees of Mamre when three men came standing nearby. Abraham must have known somehow that one of those three was the Lord, for he ran to them and bowed low to the ground and asked that if he had found favor in the eyes of the Lord, he should not pass his servant by. This shows great humility and respect toward the Lord. Interestingly, we are told Yahweh appeared to Abraham, and he called him Adonia, meaning sovereign Lord. Abraham prepared a meal for the Lord, and the two who accompanied him were most likely angels who later went down to Sodom to save Lot and his family. But this appearance of the Lord to Abraham is our story. We might wonder why the Lord does not come and appear to us as he did to those men of old: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and many more. Yet why are those men, like Abraham, considered righteous because they believed God? Yet we believe by faith, not by sight. We do not need the Lord to physically appear to us to believe him. Of course, Abraham did not have the word of God in written form, as we do. The Holy Spirit had not been poured out upon him, as he has upon us. The great appearance of Jesus had not happened in Abraham's time, as it has in our time. Although Abraham saw the Lord, the Spirit dwells within us. The question before us is how much humility and respect we give the Lord. Do we run to him, bowing low to the ground? Do we even run to him? Surely, Abraham lived his life doing all the daily activities necessary to sustain himself and his household. Still, when the Lord showed up, he ran to him, bowed down, and offered him hospitality. The Lord, as the Holy Spirit has come to us, and we wonder how much hospitality we offer him. Surely, we need to do the daily activities of life, but still, should we not always be reverent, bowing down, if not physically, in our spirit, to the presence of the Lord in our lives? If we are not bowing low in spirit, as Jesus said, blessed are the meek, the poor, the lowly, the humble,  the respectful in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. If we do not bow, we are arrogant and disrespectful to the Lord. Let us always be bowing low.