Day 4 — High

Psalm 134:

1 Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord
    who minister by night in the house of the Lord.
2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary
    and praise the Lord.

Becky and I have started home-schooling this week and it turns out I’m learning more than the kids are. Today I learnt that if you have two words like ‘hi’ and ‘high’ that sound the same but have different meanings (and spellings in this case) then that’s called a ‘homophone’.

When we wake up in the morning we say ‘Hi’ to lots of things; we open our eyes, our minds, and our hearts to lots of stimuli that flood into our being - the latest news, a text from a friend, Instagram, or perhaps the silence of waking up in the same room, same view, same day all over again. But, what if we woke up in this season of crisis and said ‘HIGH’ to God – acknowledging Him as the priority, the peace-bringer, joy-provider, our everything.

Psalm 134 invites us to do just this - to lift our hands and praise the Lord. Someone once told me to do this at the start of the morning – to physically stand up and raise my hands over the day ahead. I can’t say I manage it every day, but it has been such a source of strength, power and spiritual health for me. Sometimes, a physical practice can lead the mind and emotions into spiritual awakening.

Why not make the choice today to find some time to lift your hands, to say ‘You, O Lord, are high and lifted up, Lord over all that’s happening, Lord over all circumstance.’ You can do this for your own life. You can do it as ‘intercession’ over what is happening in our nation at this time. You can do it on your own and you can do it with others such as at prayer tonight at 9pm on Gas Street Instagram Live.

Don’t just say ‘HI’ but say ‘HIGH’ to God each day. Lift your hands to Him and lead your mind and emotions into His presence and His perspective. The Lord reigns forever (Ps 146.10).

Dr Nick Drake
Associate Pastor