Psalm 63:3-4 Because your love is better than life,
    my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live,
    and in your name I will lift up my hands.

A musical setting of these two verses was one of the first songs I learned when I was first exposed to the Charismatic Movement. It’s still wonderful, over 50 years later! Different translations render it differently, naturally enough. The version I learned musically says “loving kindness,” the ESV says “steadfast love,” the NIV just says “love,” and the Japanese says “grace.” We run out of words to express God’s goodness! The preface to this Psalm says that David wrote it in the wilderness of Judah, which can be a very dry place. Verse one is actually a description of his physical circumstances. God used that to show him that our relationship with our Creator is more important than our circumstances, whatever those circumstances might be. The song I learned introduced me to physical expressions of worship. I was raised Southern Baptist, and we did not raise our hands during the worship service! Back when David wrote this, raising hands to God was a common posture of prayer, so the important part for David was “in Your name,” that is, not in the name of any other god. Various religions use various postures and movements in their worship, with the Muslims bowing down toward Meccah being something most people are familiar with. It is quite true that using our bodies can deepen and/or intensify our worship. It is also true that rote motions can become as meaningless as rote words, but I still think it is unfortunate that liturgical churches have lost most of the kneeling that used to be required.

At 76, kneeling isn’t nearly as easy for me as it once was, but sometimes worship calls for sacrifice. However, raising my hands to God is something I do frequently, sometimes as a gesture of offering myself to Him, sometimes as reaching out to Him, and sometimes as a gesture of exuberance, as some people do at a rock concert. I’m very thankful to have learned to use my body in worship! I do know that physical posture without corresponding “heart posture” means very little, but I have found that making the choice to move my body often liberates my soul to worship more deeply. Japan is a culture that is generally rather restrained in such things, but my wife has “liberated” many of her lady friends to hug as a gesture of affection, and they will come up to her, even in a store, and hug her. That’s proof that Japanese believers can learn to use their bodies in worship! (Actually, I’ve been to Pentecostal meetings where there was plenty of that, so I have no excuses.) As a pastor, I need to encourage the congregation to have more freedom in expressing their worship physically, so that we may be filled more and more with the joy of the Lord.

Father, thank You for this reminder. This gives me another concrete goal for this congregation. Thank You for speaking through me about prophecy yesterday, and for how that seemed to be received. I pray that we would operate freely in the flow of Your Spirit in all ways, so that Your purposes for us may be accomplished for the blessing of many and for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!