The lifted hand is a very common and popular image of a person in worship. It’s no big surprise, considering that it is a picture often used in Scripture depicting worship and praise. “I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands” (Psalm 63.4 NIV). “Lift up your hands in the holy place and praise the LORD!” (Psalm 134.2 HCSB)
Recently I was looking at one such image and started wondering if in Scripture this act of lifting hands carries more specific aspects of the idea of worship. Let me clarify that the various aspects I highlight are not necessarily found in all other passages. Rather, each passage has its own focus usually spelled out or suggested by the context.
The most common is that of petition or prayer. The lifting of hands expresses a person’s dependence on one who could meet some need. “May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice” (Psalm 141.2 NIV). “Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at every street corner” (Lamentations 2.19 NIV).
Psalm 119.48 provides another aspect: seeking instruction or guidance: “I will lift my hands to your commands, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes” (NET). The writer of the psalm declares that the Lord’s instruction is his delight (Psalm 119.47), and he is committed to submit to the Lord’s guidance: “I will keep on obeying your instructions forever and ever. I will walk in freedom, for I have devoted myself to your commandments” (Psalm 119.44-45 NLT).
This reminds me of a contemporary use of the image, like in Western movies when a sheriff or marshal confronts a suspect. “Reach for the sky” is a command to lift one’s hands. In this context, the lifting of hands expresses surrender or submission. Here, you are giving up control to the one before whom you raise your hands.
I am fully aware that this relatively new use of the image is not found in any biblical passage. Yet I would suggest that the idea of surrender to another’s authority undergirds much of the biblical use. We acknowledge and submit to the superiority and authority of the Lord before whom we raise our hands—whether in praise of his wonderful works, or in petition for his gracious favor, or in seeking his guidance.
The next time you lift your hands before the Lord, ask yourself what it is you are expressing to him. It is good to be purposeful when you approach your God.
—Keith Y. Jainga