Pop Go Dad’s Knees! – Today’s Family Devotion

Pop Go Dad’s Knees!

GOD COMMANDS HUMILITY BECAUSE GOD VALUES HUMILITY.

Bible Reading of the Day: Read Isaiah 66:1-2.

Verse of the Day: “This is what the Lord says … ‘I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts, who tremble at my word’” (Isaiah 66:1-2).

“Amen!” Tad said as he lifted his head from his nightly prayers.

“Amen!” said Mom and Dad in unison as they knelt on either side of him. “All right,” Mom said. “Into bed.”

Tad jumped up and scampered under the covers of his bed.

As Dad stood, the three of them looked at each other in surprise when his knees made a loud popping noise.

“Does that hurt, Daddy?” Tad asked.

Dad smiled. “No,” he said. “It just means I’m getting old.”

“That’s OK, Daddy,” Tad said in a voice of comfort. “You were already old, anyway.”

Mom and Dad laughed together, and Dad held out a hand to help Mom get off her knees. As she stood with an exaggerated groan, Tad asked, “Mom, Dad—why do we kneel when we pray?”

“That’s a good question, Son,” Dad said. “We don’t have to kneel to pray. We can pray when we’re walking or lying down or even while we’re driving a car.”

“But we kneel whenever we can,” Mom added, “because it’s a way of showing our respect to God. It’s a way of humbling ourselves before God.”

“What? What does that mean?” Tad asked.

“To be humble means not to be proud,” Mom explained. “It means to admit that you’re not the greatest or most important person in the world.” “God is!” Tad said.

“That’s right,” Dad said, nodding. “That’s why God says we should be humble, because when we’re humble, we admit that he’s greater than we are. And we admit that other people are important too.”

“God likes it when we’re humble,” Mom said. “That’s why he commands us to be humble, because humility is something God likes.”

“So we kneel when we pray to show God that we’re humble,” Tad said.

Mom nodded. “We kneel before him because he’s our King, and kneeling shows how important we think he is.”

“And it shows how old Daddy’s knees are too!” Tad added.

Dad chuckled. “Yes, it does,” he admitted. “It sure does.”

TO DO: Instead of praying while seated or standing today, kneel in a circle and hold hands as you humble yourselves before God and ask him to teach you humility. Be sure to listen for popping knees as you all stand up!

TO PRAY: “Lord God, we admit that we sometimes fail to act humbly. We sometimes forget that you are God and we are your creatures. Forgive us, Lord, and remove any hidden seeds of pride from our lives.”