Take a Knee

If you haven’t heard the phrase ‘Take a Knee’ then you have been asleep, or in a TV News-free Zone. It’s everywhere. The protest is against alleged unfair USA police brutality aimed at the black community. These allegations have been around for a long time, and it’s not for me to pass any opinion on whether there is any truth in them or not.

For now, all I see are black millionaire NFL sportsmen protesting with their brothers in solidarity. But they are a million miles from the poverty which is claimed to be at the root of the problem. It’s like poking the bear, because President Trump then weighs in and takes centre stage (where he likes to be), calls the protesters an unholy name, and shouts that they should be fired. I get the impression he thinks he is still on the set of the Apprentice, passing his own style of TV justice on the unsuspecting victim of his wrath. As another rich but white millionaire, he is also far away from the reality of the poverty experienced by the youth of his country, both black and white.

So, the protesters ‘take a knee’ instead of standing during their country’s national anthem. Let me get this right. You make that protest against the nation that you are so unhappy with. The nation that has made you millionaires. The nation that has given you celebrity status, wouldn’t it be best to show that you mean what you say by finding another place to live? Another country where there is no  segregation, or discrimination, or apparent, alleged unfair police treatment against your brothers? Ah, but there’s the rub. That would mean turning your back on the source of your wealth and  status. My guess is that the NFL players would not want to go that far. They know which side their bread is buttered, and anyway such a nation does not exist.

I hate to be so obvious and transparent, but there is only one person who is fair in all deliberations, and He is the only one that is worthy to take a knee for. Take that in two ways. We can use one or both knees in prayer because God is a sound judge, and you can also ‘take a knee’ when the final curtain of life is drawn, either of our life here, or the end of the world as we know it. The wisdom of the old prophet said it long before it was obvious to anyone else. His peers probably thought he was crazy, but the prophecy in the Old Testament is clear:

By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’

Isaiah 45:23 ESV

By the way, the knees that will bow will include those millionaire NFL Sportsmen, both black and white, plus Kings and Presidents across the globe. Humbling isn’t it?