A Song of Ascents. 1 Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD who serve by night in the house of the LORD! 2 Lift up your hands to the sanctuary and bless the LORD! 3 May the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.
In John 17 just before He was arrested and sentenced to death, Jesus responded to His Father in this way. He “lifted up his eyes to heaven” and prayed what has become known as the High Priestly Prayer. His gaze was lifted upward, upon His Father in heaven, full of submission and reverence.
The posture of one’s body often shows the state of one’s heart in relation to God, and so it was with King Solomon, who some of the psalms and lived out the charge to “lift up hands to the holy place and bless the Lord!” (134:2). He directed the building of the temple, which his father David had longed to complete to give God a place to dwell among His people. Read I Kings 8:12-61, and note Solomon’s reverence toward God, including the number of times the text indicates the posture of the king’s body and hands.