Today's Scripture Reading (August 14, 2025): Psalm 28 & 29
As children,
we were probably all taught to pray with our hands folded. Part of the reason
for this body position is that when we quiet our hands or keep them still,
children are a little more likely to concentrate on their prayers. The reason
why we knelt beside our beds to pray before going to sleep held a similar
meaning. As we grew older, we picked up some other body positions for our
prayers, such as holding our hands with the palms up in front of us. This body
position anticipates the blessing that God wants to pour out on us. We still
kneel, and sometimes even lie prostrate or flat on the floor when we pray.
Our Muslim
friends might be some of the most diligent of our neighbors who assume specific
positions in which to pray. Islamic prayer includes several different prayer
positions, along with a desire to pray toward Mecca, which in my part of the
world means praying toward the east. A church that I was connected with many years
ago hosted an English as a Second Language course, which included some Islamic
believers. And there was a corner in the room where they kept their prayer mats
so that, at the appropriate time, they could pause from their lessons and pray
to Allah.
As
Christians, maybe we feel we have grown past the need to pray from certain
positions. Sometimes we bow our heads, and possibly close our eyes, two
positions which are meant to help us concentrate on our conversations with God,
but sometimes we don't even do that. We just don't seem to feel the need to
assume a particular position to pray. Personally, over the years, kneeling has
become increasingly more difficult for me. As a result, I pray from other
positions, often sitting.
Many years
ago, I led a seminar that tried to expose Christians to some of the beliefs of
our Islamic friends. At the end of the evening, those who wished could join me
in praying to God following the various Islamic prayer positions. (After all,
Allah is just God in Arabic. The Arabic version of the Bible has Allah included
in every place where our Bibles have God.) We prayed in the direction of
Jerusalem, instead of Mecca, a change in direction that didn't really make a
difference because both cities were east, and a little south, of where we were
praying.
David cries
out to God for mercy; he understands that he needs help that can only come from
his God. But David also assumes the position. First, he lifts up his hands.
Prayer for David was a whole-body experience. Lifting of the hands was a sign
that he was praying to a God who he believed was looking down on him. But he
also assumes a direction. The participants in my seminar on Islamic beliefs
prayed in the direction of Jerusalem. David says that he lifts up his hands
toward God's Most Holy Place. The location of this place changes depending on
when this Psalm was written. Early in his reign, the Most Holy Place, although
it was missing the Ark of the Covenant, would have been with the Tabernacle at
the town of Gibeon, ten kilometers Northwest of Jerusalem. But when David
brought the Ark of the Covenant back to the spiritual center of Israel, he
brought it to Jerusalem and had a tent erected there to hold it and take the
place of the "Most Holy Place," which was still at the Tabernacle in
Gibeon. "They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place
inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt
offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord" (2 Samuel 6:17).
At this
point, David likely was praying in the direction of the tent that he had set up
in Jerusalem to house the Ark of the Covenant. However, he believed he was
praying in the direction of his God.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Psalm 30
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