Fall on your face

To fall on your face is a phrase that means to prostrate yourself in total submission to another, crouching down as low as you can on the floor.¹ There are multiple scriptural references to falling on one’s face. For example, Joseph’s brothers prostrated themselves to him after finding out who he was,² Abraham prostrated himself to God as God spoke with him,³ John prostrated himself before the angel who showed him the vision he recorded,⁴ the chief steward of King Ahab prostrated himself before the prophet Elijah,⁵ and the people prostrated themselves before God when Elijah called down fire from heaven.⁶

As with the face, the forehead carries metaphorical significance as the location of your understanding. The surfaces upon which we walk are known for their uncleanliness, especially in the street, and even more so in ancient times when they were the dumping areas for human and animal waste. Falling on your face is a visceral admission of submission that physically acknowledges that your best understanding is as dung compared to the one to whom you bow. It is unfortunately and exceptionally rare for anyone to come to feel this way, even with God, and even for the moment required to signify it by falling on their face.

It is rare for a person to be willing to exercise the humility required to fall on their face before God, let alone anyone else. The importance and process of submitting to God is discussed in the chapter Submit to God by learning and living his presence and elsewhere in this book.