Summary
Driven to the Knees
There are seasons in life when our knees buckle and we find ourselves on the ground—unable to stand, unable to fix what has happened, unable to hold ourselves together. Scripture is honest about these moments, and it is also clear about the answer that meets us there. Whatever drives us down, the answer is always the same: Jesus.
The Philippian jailer in Acts 16:25–34 is a vivid example. After the earthquake threw open the prison doors, he drew his sword to take his own life, certain his prisoners had escaped. Paul's cry stopped him, and the jailer rushed in trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas with the only question that finally matters: "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" The reply was direct: "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." That same hour he washed their wounds, he and his household were baptized, and his house rejoiced. The awesome power of God had driven him to his knees, and the gospel lifted him up.
The Bible gathers up many such moments. Peter, overwhelmed by the miraculous catch of fish, fell at Jesus' knees in Luke 5:8 and confessed, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." A leper knelt before Jesus in Mark 1:40, driven down by sickness and pleading to be made clean. The Canaanite woman in Matthew 15:25 knelt because of the suffering of her daughter—the need of another driving her low. The synagogue ruler in Matthew 9:18 knelt because death had come to his home.
These are the very things that still bring us to our knees: the overwhelming power and holiness of God; the weight of our own sin; the doctor's bad news; the helpless ache for someone we love; the silence after death enters a room. Life makes our knees buckle. There is no shame in this. It is honest, and Scripture meets us there.
And on our knees, we hear the answer. To "believe on the Lord Jesus" means both to confess who He is—the Messiah, the Son of God John 20:31—and to trust what He has done. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:3–4, "Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures." For sin, His blood; for sickness, the great Physician who holds our days; for the burdens of others, the omnipotent Lord to whom we pray; for death itself, the promise that the last word for the Christian is life.
This is why "Driven to the Knees" returns again and again to a single refrain. Whatever the equation of suffering looks like in your life, work it out and the answer comes back the same. The answer is always Jesus.
Video citations
- "Driven to the Knees" — It is my favorite math problem. Take whatever number you want, whatever number you want. Double it, then add 10 to it. Divide it in half, and then take the original number, and subtract it, and you…