Postures of Worship

2 Chronicles 20:18-19, ESV

Then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. And the Levites, of the Kohathites and the Korahites, stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

Last week we looked at the promise of God to fight for the people of Judah when a “great horde” came against them. And this passage shows their response—they worshiped.

That’ll preach in itself, but something different stood out to me this time—that the postures of worship varied from person to person.

The king bowed his head.

The people fell down before the Lord.

The spiritual leaders stood and praised in a loud voice.

And all were acts and postures of worship.

We must be so careful not to judge the postures of the worship of others. We may not be moved the same way someone else is moved. We may not respond to the presence and promises of God the same way someone else responds. But we must not judge one another’s responses. 

Worship is a beautiful thing between us and God. It’s as individual as we are, and even our own worship varies throughout the situations and seasons of our lives.

So may we worship how we’re moved to worship. And may our focus be upon the Object of our worship, not on the posture of the people around us.