Pray the Psalms: Psalm 134

[MUSIC PLAYING] Hi. It’s Rick Hamlin. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord. This is Psalm 134. Lift up your hands and bless the Lord. Now, I can feel a little funny doing that right here, lifting up my hands. But if you really stretch, it’s a good feeling. 

In acting, they often say, you’re supposed to feel something to be able to express it. And an actor does this training to sort of understand his or her feelings. But there’s also a way that it works in reverse. Instead of feeling the feeling first, you do the gesture or you make the face. For instance, make your face smile. You do that, even if you’re miserable, and it feels– it makes you happy. So this gesture of lifting up your hands is a gesture that makes you feel good. 

Sometimes when you’re not feeling good, if you’re out of sorts with yourself, and you wonder what to do, well, you can give yourself an exercise. And here the psalms give us something physical to do, because it’s something that will make you feel like you want to praise God. 

I don’t do this much in my church. Some people do. But I see people at the gym lift up their hands, and I think, that’s a gesture that makes them feel good. And I do it, and feel good. So lift up your hands and praise. Psalm 134.