It’s happened more times than I can count. My baby wraps her little arms around me. Her hands fiercely grip my shirt. All I want is to use the bathroom. I’ll be back in two minutes, but she doesn’t understand. She doesn’t know it’s good for mom to step away, that everything will be okay.
When my baby learned to walk, her grip tightened even more. She didn’t understand that walking was better if she let go. Then, one day, her hands released mine. With arms outstretched and hands open wide, she learned there was greater freedom in letting go. Joy bubbled up as she walked beside mom rather than clinging to my skirt.
The position of our hands often reveals the posture of our hearts. Hands that hold tight to temporary, earthly things tend to wear chains of their own making. These shackles only allow so much growth. Loose or open hands offer freedom to catch showers of joy and grace.
In this post, we will examine three women who show how open hands reveal:
- A posture of surrender
- An act of trust
- A display of worship
1. A Posture of Surrender
John 4 gives us Jesus’ longest recorded conversation, and it is with a woman beside a well. This woman had a scarlet past, a shame-filled present, and an uncertain future. When she meets Jesus, her hands tightly grip an earth-worn jar for water.
On that hot desert day, Jesus was inviting the woman to release her grasp on her earth-worn vessel and worship her heavenly Father with an open and honest heart.
As the woman stood there clutching her jar, Jesus revealed to her everything she had ever done. He offered her life and uncovered her shame. The woman believed so wholeheartedly that she released her water jar, the very vessel that had grounded her to her shame, left it at the well, and ran to tell her whole village the good news: the Messiah had come.
We become slaves when we hold tight to our earthly needs and physical desires. These things may be good and even neccessary to life, but anything that we hold onto and serve besides God is a shackle of our own making. Releasing our grip on the temporary opens our hands to honest surrender to God.
2. An Act of Trust
Desperation has a way of driving people to their knees. Luke introduces us to a woman who had suffered with unrelenting bleeding for twelve years (Luke 8:40-49). This issue rendered her unclean and an outcast from society.
She had seen every doctor available, tried every remedy, yet nothing worked. The only thing left for this woman was to cling to what little sense of dignity remained, until she heard Jesus was in town.
The woman had a choice. She could hide in the crowd, hands gripping her own sides in fear, or she could reach out. In a moment of true faith, she relinquished control of her fate and touched the hem of His garment. Immediately, her body was healed. Jesus made it known that her open-handed trust had saved her soul.
We can choose to try and handle life on our own, or we can choose to be like the healed woman and trust Jesus with everything.
3. A Display of Worship
Before the woman at the well, there was Hannah. She had a reasonable, good, wholesome desire that was not being met: she wanted a son. Year after year, she bore the weight of infertility and a "sister-wife" who mocked her relentlessly.
She harbored pain that sunk deep within her heart. There were women who had come before her who experienced similar pain. Sarah’s infertility drove her to encouraging adultury in her husband. Rachel’s infertility steamlined bitterness.
Hannah did not choose to tighten her grip around her sorrow. Instead, she laid herself bare before Yahweh. She was so vulnerable that the high priest thought she was a drunkard. Hannah replied:
"No, my lord. I am a woman with a broken heart… I’ve been pouring out my heart before the LORD… I’ve been praying from the depth of my anguish and resentment." — 1 Samuel 1:15-16
Hannah chose to worship God even in her anguish. Our kind and gracious God took notice of Hannah's plight. He removed her infertility and responded to her reasonable act of worship.
When God gave her the desire of her heart, her response was to surrender the gift back to Him. She trusted that God would care for what already belonged to Him. Hannah no longer worshipped from her anguish but in celebration!
"Hannah prayed: My heart rejoices in the LORD; my horn is lifted up by the LORD. My mouth boasts over my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. There is no one holy like the LORD. There is no one besides you! And there is no rock like our God.
Reflections for Today
The things we dwell on, trust in, and serve reveal where our true worship lies. We cannot worship God with clenched fists any more than a child can learn to run while clinging to their mother's skirt. The position of our hands reveals the posture of our hearts.
Is there something you are clinging to today?
- A job or a person?
- An idea or an emotion?
- A dream you aren't ready to release?
Spend some time today asking God to reveal the things in your life that you are holding apart from Him. Ask Him to give you open hands and an open heart.
