17 And it came to pass that when Aaron had said these words, the king did bow down before the Lord, upon his knees; yea, even he did prostrate himself upon the earth, and cried mightily, saying:
18 O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day. And now when the king had said these words, he was struck as if he were dead.
Can you imagine yourself in this situation? You are in public, not a member of the true church and the missionaries are teaching you about God and his plan of salvation, and just told you that the way to have joy and happiness was to repent of your sins and call upon God. What would you have done?
Would you have fell to your knees right then and there in front of all of those people? And then prostrated yourself on the ground in humility and reverence and prayed vocally to God? Pouring out your heart in prayer, in the presence of a crowd of people?! And this from a king??? Someone who has people practically WORSHIPPING HIM every day? Bowing down before him? Begging his pardon? Asking him
to spare their lives?
How does someone so honored and revered and feared; how does someone who has everything the world can offer in fame, honor, and wealth, humble himself, no humiliate himself like that in the presence of a crowd of people? Perhaps there were those who were offended at his behavior! It’s unbecoming of a king to worship anyone else! They should be reverenced!
I know I would not have humbled myself so! What an amazing man!! And in spite of his faults and weaknesses and temper, he must have had a good influence on his son Lamoni, who also humbled himself in like manner.
It’s almost unbelievable that someone, anyone, but especially a king would so conduct himself. And yet he did. He did what we all must do. Bow in humility to that God who gave us life. To that God who we offend every day in some way. To that God who is so loving and kind and compassionate and merciful that he has asked us to address him— not in some glorified, flowery term— but as “Father”. Father! He wants us to call him Father, because that is exactly what he is to us. Our Father, in Heaven.
It’s hard to pray to him. For me it is. It always seems to be. Because every time I approach him, I have something to be ashamed of or disappointed of when it comes to my performance. In my obedience to him. And yet I know I must. Where else can I go? Where can I turn for peace? He, only one. But still, it seems most of the time like a dog with its tail between its legs, fearing the worst for having disobeyed and disappointed his master.
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