Open HandsSample

Open Hands, Humble Heart

When you worship what is your posture of choice? Hands raised, eyes closed, head bowed? As a worship leader, I have seen about every expression of worship you could imagine from worshipers kneeling in reverence to God in pristine chapels to teenagers at youth rallies, dancing with the joy and abandon of King David. I believe God delights in the diversity of expression of praise, but the scriptures tell us there is something of greater concern to this Triune God we worship: the posture of our hearts.

In Psalm 51, one of David’s most vulnerable and penitent prayers, he asserts that the Lord does not delight in sacrifice, and that he is not pleased with burnt offerings. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit”, David says, “a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Ps 51:16, 17). At first glance, this may sound a bit confusing. Is God rejecting the very sacrifices he prescribed Israel to make to Him? Yet it isn’t their worship he is rejecting; it is their empty worship.

Even for us today, it’s not our songs he desires, or our perfect church attendance, or even our tithe dollars; he wants our hearts! If our outward expression of worship is not the manifestation of an inner spiritual renewal, our sweetest songs and prayers are but noise to his ears. A heart engaged in worship is one that acknowledges their need for the saving grace of Jesus and hungers to be conformed to His likeness! May our open hands serve as an outward sign of a heart surrendered.

How has God been working in your heart recently, to bring about spiritual renewal? Have you experienced deeper awareness and presence of God in your personal and corporate worship? If not, what is one area of your life you need to release to the Father that will allow him to renew your heart?