Why I Raise My Hands

I didn’t use to. 

I thought it was odd. “They are just trying to get attention…wanting to be noticed for being super spiritual."

I grew up in a very formal liturgical church. But I didn’t become a committed Christian until I was 17. Then I was saved in a church where the format was less formal, the preaching more conversational, Biblical, and practical. But nobody ever raised their hands during worship…or dared to show any emotion, for that matter.

When I went to large group Christian gatherings and saw people from other churches raising their hands, I found it curious and had no clue why they did it. Some of them seemed to be downright weird, crying and contorting their faces, etc. That turned me off. But others were just normal people who were obviously “into” what they were singing, periodically lifting their hands while singing to God, or sometimes when in prayer.

But I was critical. I thought it brought too much attention to the person doing it. 

The trouble I had was with what I kept reading in the Bible. Over and over I kept reading how God-followers in Bible times raised their hands during times of prayer and worship, as though they were reaching up into the heavens and letting go of what they were holding on to here.

God answered Moses’ prayer as long as his hands were lifted and when he got tired and let them down, he stopped. Throughout the Psalms, David not only talked about lifting his hands to God in worship, he also used his songs to instruct and urge the readers (and those singing his songs) to lift their hands as they were doing so. 

Then there was Paul. He told Timothy that he desired people everywhere to lift their hands in prayer to God.

That was hard for me to get away from. I mean, that’s what’s in the Bible, the book I claimed to be my instruction manual for all of life, and especially for my spiritual life.

So I started lifting my hands in prayer when in private. It did something in me. Posture affects our thinking and feelings (behavior has a way of doing that). It made my praying more real and my claim to consecration more sincere. Try it yourself. You’ll see.

It soon became such a habit of mine that without thinking about it, I started lifting my hands in prayer even when praying with others. And before I knew it, during times of corporate worship.

I feel pretty bad about my judgmental spirit in the days when I criticized others for wanting attention. I’m sure there is some of that, but that’s between them and God. Instead, I just want to connect with God. And following Biblical instruction for worship, including those things that require us to put away pride and to stop thinking about what other people think, leads us in a more meaningful way, into the presence of God.

I challenge you. Try it. I think you’ll find something changing in you when you do.