Little Pieces of Clay~Making a Christian~8. Hands of Worship

Psalm 63:4
Thus will I bless Thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in Thy name.

    While the word "hands" appears in the KJV Bible 438 times, only 13 of those refer to worshiping God. Of those 13 times, one verse has floods worshiping (Psalm 98:8), one verse has 'the deep' worshiping (Habakkuk 3:10) and one verse has trees worshiping (Isaiah 55:12). The other ten verses which reference worship to God using the hands are either personal (I, my) or other (they, your, men, all people).
     The word "hand" appears in the KJV Bible 1,296 times: 1,144x in the OT and 152x in the NT.
None of the times in which the word "hand" appears in the NT use it in reference to worship of God. When the word "hand" is used in the NT, it describes an action or location. For example, "at hand" means close by or near to; as in, "The kingdom of God is 'at hand'. This phrase, 'the kingdom of God is at hand' is used in the NT   x. The kingdom of God is a method: it is salvation through Jesus Christ and it is preaching the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ. We must repent and believe (Mark 1:15); repent of our sins and sinful ways and believe on the name of Jesus Christ, who is the only begotten Son of God.

    While the use of the word "hands" is personalized, the word "hand" is descriptive. So, let's think about that for a minute or two. Look at your hands. First the back. And then the front. What did you see? The back of my hands are worn. In the light I can see the creases and wrinkles on my fingers. When I flex my fingers, the joints hurt and some of them crack. The middle finger on my right hand is more inflamed than the others; I broke it many years ago and it never healed quite right; it also tilts. My knuckles are swollen. 

     I turn my hands over and am thankful that my wrists still work even through the pain, which at this moment extends from the left pinky down the hand and up the arm to my shoulder. It is not age and decay that creeps through my body: I suffer with severe Fibromyalgia, which is an autoimmune disorder that affects the central nervous system. My body has also succumbed to osteoarthritis. Yippee-ki-yay. 

     But my heart and my soul and my spirit are stronger than ever. With my hands I will praise Him.  My fingers are only at rest when my eyes are closed in sleep, I hope. So the fingers on my hands are in constant motion: typing, writing in my journals/notebooks, washing and drying dishes,  turning pages in my Bible and other books, folding laundry, fastening buttons, closing zippers, changing from one outfit to another, bathing, washing my hair, getting a drink, eating meals, flexing and stretching. Of course with that last, flexing and stretching, I get to hear them crack, too.

     With my hands I will worship God. My heart is filled with the Love of God and overflows into the rest of my body. Perhaps it is this that causes my body to vibrate at all hours of the day and night. We do know that the spiritual affects the physical and the mental. As rain not only washes away, but also regenerates, I am being cleansed and renewed by the Holy Spirit of God on every level of my life. Even my body is aware of the transforming power of God, not just my spirit and my mind.

     When I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior, my sins were forgiven and my soul became His. Instantly, I belonged to God and Jesus forever. Through that act of faith, my soul received salvation. However, my body and my must needs also be completely surrendered to Him. Jesus gave all of Himself for me. Therefore, the only logical thing is to give all of myself for Him. With God it is all or nothing. The Book of Revelation says that He will spew the lukewarm out of His mouth. In other words, a partial reconciliation is no reconciliation; a half-hearted relationship makes Him vomit. I do not want to be vomit.

     With my hands I will praise Him. But my heart must be in it, too. It is not enough to just be able to sing along with everyone. God is not impressed that you know all the words to your favorite songs. God is not satisfied with you knowing all the books of the Bible in order. Nor is He content with our ability to memorize Scripture; then forget it. The Word of God needs to be read, heard, obeyed and applied to our daily lives. Saturday and Sunday are not the only days of worship that are to be observed. Living for Jesus must be done everyday. We can't be Christians one day of the week and sinners the other six days. That is being lukewarm and half-hearted. That is vomit.

    I will lift up my hands in Thy Name. When the enemy is at our backs, and says, "Stick'em up!", lifting our hands is an act of surrender. But we are not surrendering to the enemy, we are surrendering to God. With our hands we raise His standard, Jehovah-Nissi, meaning: God, my banner. The standard is lifted up at the forefront of the troops, who are prepared to go into battle. We are the footsoldiers of God.

And with our hands we will praise Him.