08/01/11

Lift your hearts with your hands unto God

Lamentations 3: 41 - Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.


There is a retreat center in south India of the Catholic Church which I attended before when I was yet in the RC Church. At this place people (who attend there in large numbers) were forced to worship like a commando training.

People were told to lift both their hands up for long hours and were made to feel, by not doing so will disappoint God and will not receive the blessing (purpose) they came for. The funniest news I received just a week back that this center now tells people to lift only their right hand. A brother who visited this place for some other reason questioned 'what is wrong with my left hand?'

People void of wisdom will do anything. I thank God they did not read today's scripture or take it serious, else I can imagine.

When we worship God we do many things like lift hands, kneeling, swaying, dancing etc. these help us to increase our concentration on worship or express ourselves better in our worship. In reality and in scriptures they have meaning which we need to understand and do in truth.

Like the word heart here does not mean our organ but our inner-man (our nature, our feelings, our will, our minds etc.), so also the word hands does not mean our arms. In the Bible hands symbolize our work. Similarly our feet symbolize our way of life, so kneeling means putting down our way of life to God and lifting our faces towards Heaven (Light) means seeking the favor of God.

If I keep kneeling during worship or prayers but do not imply this into my life, this kneeling makes no sense. My lifting hands up towards the sky during worship even for hours, but if I do not glorify God in my doings, my lifting hand does not make any sense.

What today's scripture is telling us is by our works and our doings we can let the glory of God come into our inner man.

Our works will not save us, but when they are done to glorify God they expand the Kingdom of God. We the children of God working in our Father's vineyard should not feel ashamed but rather consider it our duty. If we love our Father, we should be concern of His business which is to bring His lost sheep to Him and to grow Fruit in them.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord we thank You for giving us hands and feet. By the ability You have giving us we want to glorify You in our lives and let your glory shine in us. Lord, we surrender our every plan and our every desire let them be according to thy will and let your glory be through them. Use us and glorify Yourself, so that we be glorified in You when we become one in You...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference Scripture ]
Matthew 18:8
8 Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.

Psalms 18:24
24 Therefore hath the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.

Psalms 24:3-6
3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?
4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
5 He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.

The Word of God was given free to us, therefore we should also share it freely with others. (All rights are with God)