Hands Raised, Knees Bowed
He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously. Daniel 6:10b
Raising hands in worship. Kneeling to pray. Fasting with prayer. Anointing the sick with oil. Some question the motives behind the actions. What does God see?
Early in Moses’ leadership over Israel the Amalekites, an evil people who did not fear God and hated His people, attacked Israel (Exodus 17:8; Deuteronomy 25:18). Moses ordered Joshua to choose men and battle against Amalek and his army. He promised that he would stand with the staff of God on the top of a hill.
The next day, Aaron and Hur accompanied Moses to the top of the hill while Joshua led the troops in a difficult battle. While Moses hands were in the air, Israel prevailed, when he dropped his hands Amalek prevailed.
One commentator pointed out that Moses’ hands in the air was a proclamation of Israel’s complete reliance on God to prevail in the battle. Is that what we’re saying when we raise our hands in worship?
Several times in scripture we read about people being on their knees before the Lord. In Ezra 9:5, Ezra had been reading the scriptures and realized how they had failed to be faithful to God and His Word. He fasted, tore his cloak, fell on his knees, and spread out his hands to the Lord God confessing the guilt of the nation (Ezra 9:1-5).
Are we so grieved by the sin of our nation that we fall on our knees before the Lord?
In James 5:14 he says, “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.”
Several years ago I attempted to obey this command because of an illness that medical doctors were having a difficult time treating. The pastor I approached feared I thought there was magic in the oil.
Do we think God has a purpose in the oil?
Fasting is another discipline that we are taught little about, yet in the scriptures faithful people practiced it in their distress and guilt (Ezra 8:21; Esther 4:16). In verses like Jeremiah 14:12 God makes it clear that the fast or any offering made to Him are not like magic wands. In this verse He says that in spite of their religious rituals He will not hear their cries because of their faithless lives.
Hands raised, knees bowed, anointing with oil for prayer, and fasting. It seems we have come to think of these things as unnecessary for us to practice, almost superstitious. But are they symbols meant to remind us who God is? Being on our knees or raising our hands to the Lord can be a means the Lord uses to put our minds on His majesty and our worthless state without Him.
What do you think? Would we be better off if we learned about these disciplines of the faith and practiced them? Or, are they just meaningless symbols that are unnecessary for us?