Why We Lift Our Hands

May 19, 2019 | Worship

By Nick Randle, Worship Pastor

Psalm 63:4, Psalm 141:2, Psalm 119:48, Lamentations 2:19, Nehemiah 8:6

For the longest time I always saw the lifting of hands in a worship service as being odd and out of place. I thought this expression was something that people did when they wanted to draw attention to themselves or because they were choosing to be dramatic with their singing. For me, it didn’t feel like it had a place in the church gathering. I can’t tell you if these ideas stem from a personal hang-up, a certain kind of teaching, or the type of church gatherings that I was brought up in, but they were ideas that would change.

Now I can’t speak for everyone but I don’t think I’m alone in this thought process. Maybe we say things like, it’s just not me, that’s not the way I worship, or I’m not comfortable. Of course some people may have physical limitations and cannot lift their hands. The raising of hands during worship is not a practice that should be forced upon us, but I would say that by neglecting it altogether we can miss out on opportunities to connect with the Lord in a deep and personal way, especially when we don’t understand why.

The raising of hands is not a new fad that has come on the scene and will go away after some time. We can see in Psalm 63:4 where David says, “I will praise You as long as I live, and in Your name I will lift up my hands.” Psalm 141:2 says, “May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.” These are both passages that come from David responding to God. There are more examples of people lifting their hands in Scripture, some will be touched on and some will be listed at the end for you to read and study on your own.

These are some of the reasons that we lift our hands in worship:

A Sign of Surrender/Humility

By lifting our hands we can show that we are opening ourselves up to be vulnerable. We can become open and exposed. This is a way for us to respond to God by letting Him work in us and be willing to live as He directs. When we surrender in this manner we are saying that we cannot do life on our own and we need help.

Rejoicing/Excitement

Many times we get excited over a sports event or some good news in our lives and one of those reactions is to lift our hands as a response. When we sing about Christ having risen from the grave or all the great things that God has done we get excited. Raising our hands is an expression of that enthusiasm.

Embrace

People tend to raise their hands toward others when they are about to give someone a hug or embrace that person. We are broken people and when we feel that brokenness or struggle in our lives we long for someone to embrace us. So we raise our hands for comfort and longing for God’s presence to be known.

Prayer

Looking back through examples of the early church, worshippers were portrayed (sometimes in paintings) lifting their hands with eyes open during prayer. Then looking back to the Old Testament we see in 1 Kings 8:22-54 Solomon stands with his hands raised as he prays over the people. He doesn’t just do it for a few moments but instead he does it during the whole prayer.

I want to leave you with a challenge to consider this expression of worship the next time you sing a song of surrender or any of the other types listed. This can be a liberating experience when our hearts, minds and bodies are focused on the worship of God.

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