Stand For God!
Stand up and bless the Lord your God forever and ever!
“Blessed be Your glorious name, which is exalted above
all blessing and praise!”
Nehemiah 9: 5
If you attended a performance of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah
this past Christmas, you—along with everyone else—probably stood
when you heard the opening bars of the “Hallelujah Chorus.” Why? It's
a tradition that supposedly began by England’s King George II in 1743.
Why did King George II stand (which caused everyone else to stand)?
No one knows for sure. Answers range from worshipful reverence to
his need to stretch his legs to gout in his feet. Audiences have stood
for the “Hallelujah Chorus” ever since.
If the King stood out of worshipful reverence, he could have based his
decision on a biblical precedent. For example, when the Levites led the
newly returned Jews in a prayer of confession, they commanded the
people to “Stand up and bless the Lord your God forever and ever!”
Numerous examples of standing in the presence of authorities
or rulers can be noted throughout history, so standing to worship
God certainly qualifies in that regard.
Standing or sitting, worship is an appropriate
response to the forgiveness that follows the
confession of sin.
"The best rubrics of worship are
those which are written on broken hearts."
Charles H. Spurgeon
