Psalm 28
Psalm 28 talks a great deal about hands.
First, David talks about his hands: “Hear my cry for mercy as I call to you for help, as I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place.” (vs 2)
Next, David talks about the hands of the wicked: “Repay them for their deeds and for their evil work; repay them for what their hands have done and bring back on them what they deserve.” (vs 4)
And finally, David talks about God’s hands: “Because they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord and what his hands have done, he will tear them down and never build them up again.” (vs 5)
Photo © Unsplash/Jeremy Yap
As I read, I thought about the contrast between David’s hands and the hands of the wicked. When someone has done wrong, we say that they have “dirty hands.” And usually, these kinds of evil things are done in secret, in the dark. John wrote about this in his gospel: “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” (Jn 3:19-21)
But David says that he lifts his hands to God as he comes into the sanctuary. To me, this means that he is honest with God—he isn’t trying to hide anything or act deceitfully. He’s willing to “expose his hands.”
Photo © Unsplash/John Price
God, in the same way, is willing to expose His hands. In verse 5, David mentioned that we can know what God’s “hands have done,” and that’s because God always acts out in the open. He has “clean hands.” He doesn’t act dishonestly or in secret. He is a “public works” kinda guy, making sure that all can see and know what He is doing.
And I like to think that the closer we come to God, the more we can also be like that. Even if we are like the wicked whose hands do evil things, God has the power to give us clean hands. He can change us so that we won’t be ashamed to lift up our hands in His presence.
The God with clean hands is also the God of clean hands. The more we get to know Him, the more we will be like Him.