To classic Pentecostals lifting the hands in praise and prayer is second nature, flowing from a tradition decades old. But to the new convert or non-Pentecostal just entering the Charismatic movement, the custom may be new and awkward. Most traditional Protestants have only seen the minister lift his hands to give the benediction or blessing upon the people.

Why lift hands to worship and pray? What does this practice mean? Lifting hands to the Lord in the Bible expresses two distinct ideas: supplication and blessing.

A gesture common to many cultures is stretching forth the hands to implore another person to help, to give something, or to come. An example is found in Isaiah 65:1-2: "I said , 'Here am I, here am I,' to a nation that did not call on my name. I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people" (cf. Proverbs 1:24; Job 30:24; Jeremiah 4:31; Lamentations 1:17).

In a similar way, hands are extended for prayer in the direction of God's dwelling. Dedicating the temple, Solomon "stood before the altar of the Lord ... and spread forth his hands toward heaven ...." (1 Kings

8:22; cf. vs. 54; 1 Chronicles 6:12, 13). He also asks God to honor prayers made toward the temple: "... Whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by any man or by all thy people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart and stretching out his hands toward this house ... hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and act ..." (1 Kings 8:38- 39; cf. 2 Chronicles 6:29-30). David calls out, "Hear the voice of my supplication as I cry to thee for help, as I lift up my hands toward thy most holy sanctuary" (Psalm 28:2; cf. also 134:2).

Most often, however, hands are lifted up to God in heaven.

HANDS EXPRESS THE INNER MAN

Desperate for some response from God, David says, "I stretch out my hands to thee; my soul thirsts for thee like a parched land" (Psalm 143:6; cf. vs. 8).

Hands mirror the soul stretched out to touch God, "... for to thee, O Lord, I lift up my soul" (vs. 8; cf. 25:1; 86:4).

Lifted hands must not mask sin.

Defiled lives must be cleansed by repentance: "When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean ...." (Isaiah 1:15-16; cf. 59:1-3).

Rather we are to lift up "holy hands without anger or quarreling" (1 Timothy 2:8).

The prophet Jeremiah admonishes the Israelites mourning the destruction of Jerusalem, "Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord! Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to God in the heavens" (Lamentations 3:40-41, KJV).

The lifting of the hands so characterizes prayer in the Bible that it becomes a metonymy, a symbol for supplication without the need to identify it as prayer. For example, Jeremiah urges, "Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children ..." (Lamentations 2:19; Psalm 44:20; and perhaps Lamentations 1:17). To lift the hand to God means invoking His help.

LIFTING HANDS IN BLESSING

Yet hands are not only lifted in supplication. They are also lifted to offer a blessing to God.

The custom of the laying on of hands underlies the use of hands in blessing. The laying on of hands was understood to confer or impart something. One's sins, for instance, were transferred to the sacrifice through laying on of hands (Leviticus 1:4; 16:21-22). More often, however, the hands conveyed a gift or blessing.

Ordination bestowed authority, consecration, or special gifts (Numbers 27:18-23; Deuteronomy 34:9; Acts 6:6; 13:3; 14:23; 1 Timothy 4:14; 1:18; 2 Timothy 1:6).

The Holy Spirit Himself was sometimes conveyed by the laying on of hands (Acts 8:17-18; 19:6). Jesus commonly imparted the blessing of healing through His hands (Matthew 8:1-3, 14-15; 9:20, 25, 29; Luke 4:40; etc.).

Jacob pronounced a blessing on Ephraim and Manasseh by laying on his hands (Genesis 48:14-15) and so Jesus blessed the little children (Mark 10:16).

To bless an individual, the person laid his hands on him. To bless a group, hands were lifted and extended over them, as in the priestly blessing (Leviticus 9:22) and Jesus' blessing of the disciples at His ascension (Luke 24:50).

Lifting of hands in praise to God derives from this understanding of imparting a blessing.

David lovingly calls to his faithful God: "So I will bless thee as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on thy name" (Psalm 63:4).

Temple worshipers are exhorted, "Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord! Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord!" (Psalm 134:1-2).

David sees such heart worship as the kernel of more formal worship: "Let my prayer be counted as incense before thee, and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice!" (Psalm 141:2).

Lifting the hands to honor and bless God expresses love for Him (Job 11:13; Psalm 68:31) and His commandments (119:48).

When the covenant is renewed in Jerusalem after the Exile, the whole congregation participates:

"Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God; and all the people answered, 'Amen, Amen,' lifting up their hands; and they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground" (Nehemiah 8:6).

Even nature blesses the Lord: "... The deep gave forth its voice, it lifted its hands on high" (Habakkuk 3:10).

In a series of complex passages we see the concept of hands uplifted in prayer merged with lifting hands to impart. In Egypt, Moses stretches out his hands to God to end the plague of thunder and hail (Exodus 9:29, 33). In the wilderness battle with Amalek, as Aaron and Hur held up Moses' hands the Israelites were victorious, but when Moses' hands grew weary the Amalekites gained the advantage (Exodus 17:11-12).

Yet in each of these passages "the rod of God" seems to be in Moses' hand (9:22-23; 17:9). While prayer seems to be indicated, we also see hands imparting God's deliverance. Moses' hand becomes the hand of God to bless and set free His people much the same way Jesus' hand loosed those Satan had bound (Luke 13:10-16).

From the Old Testament scriptures it is obvious that believers commonly prayed and praised while lifting their hands. The First Letter to Timothy assumes the practice among males in Christian assemblies as late as 60 A.D.: "I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling" (2:8).

OUR HANDS ARE REFLECTIVE OF OUR BEING

Many of us, like the proverbial Italians, cannot talk without our hands. As people begin to yield their hands in expression to God, there often is a corresponding release in their worship.

Our own culture suggests meaningful gestures which communicate these various expressions. Palms lifted up might express openness, invitation, surrender. Reaching out signifies entreaty, supplication, and dependence. Hands extended palms out may symbolize extending a blessing to God much as a minister's benediction with hands stretched over the congregation imparts a blessing to them.

We must never allow lifting our hands to become an empty form; they are to express the inner being to God. As we use our hands to bless God may there be a fresh release of expression from our hearts in prayer, worship, and love to God. "Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name" (Psalm 63:4, KJV).