Open Hands - A Posture of Worship
Open Hands: A Posture of Worship
A beggar once came to a king with nothing in his hands but need. He had no riches to offer, no gifts to present, no power to impress. His hands were open, not to give, but to receive. And the king, in his kindness, filled them—again and again.
That image captures what worship is really about. We don’t come before God to impress him or to prove ourselves worthy. We come empty. We come needy. We come like beggars with open hands.
Solomon’s Prayer with Open Hands
When Solomon dedicated the temple, he took on a posture that showed this truth clearly. He knelt down, lifted his arms, and opened his hands toward heaven. He wasn’t offering God anything. He was pleading:
“Lord, hear us. Forgive us. Rescue us. Help us.”
His prayer in 2 Chronicles 6:12–21 is filled with this kind of begging. And what’s remarkable is that Solomon prayed not only for God to hear his people then, but to keep hearing them into the future—again and again—as they came to him in need.
That’s the posture of worship.
Our Posture in Worship
Think about the ways we position ourselves in worship:
We stand in reverence for God’s Word.
We rise to confess our faith and to sing.
We bow our heads and fold our hands in prayer.
We kneel inwardly as we confess our sins.
We sit respectfully as God’s Word is read and preached.
We lift our hands to offer our gifts.
And then, with Solomon, we open our hands to receive.
We don’t come to worship to pay God back—what could we ever give him that he doesn’t already own? Instead, we come with open hands to receive his mercy, his forgiveness, his strength, his grace.
Open Hands at the Lord’s Table
This Sunday is a communion Sunday, which makes this theme even more powerful. We literally come with open hands to receive bread and wine—the very body and blood of Jesus given for us for the forgiveness of sins.
It’s humbling. It’s beautiful. It’s life-giving.
We are beggars, and this is true. But we are beggars who know exactly where to find bread.
An Invitation
We’d love for you to join us this Sunday, September 14, at Mt. Lebanon Church as we continue our fall series The Church’s Heartbeat with Week 2: OPEN HANDS.
📖 Reflection on 2 Chronicles 6:12–21
🍷 Communion—open hands to receive God’s gifts
🍗 A potluck meal to follow (rotisserie chicken over charcoal provided—bring something to share!)
📅 Sunday, September 14
⏰ Worship at 9:30 am | Potluck to follow
📍 Mt. Lebanon Church
Come with open hands—ready to receive God’s grace in worship, and ready to share a meal in fellowship.
What about you?
When you come to worship, what posture do you bring before God? What might it look like for you to come with open hands this week?