Prayer’s Incense

“O Lord, I call upon you!
Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
    and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!

But my eyes are toward you, O God, my Lord!” Psalm 141:1-2,8a

“You shall make an altar on which to burn incense… in front of the mercy seat.., where I will meet with you. Every morning when [Aaron] dresses the lamps he shall burn it, and at twilight he shall burn it, a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations.” Exodus 30:1,6-8

“When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” “And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.” Revelation 5:8; 8:3-4

The law prescribed the altar and its incense, the psalmist and elders offered the fragrance of prayer before God. In every case, prayer was God-ward, in reverence, dependence, and hope. The pleadings from God’s people through the ages were not only heard, but savored as a pleasing aroma by the One sought, honored, and trusted.

The Scriptures contain many examples of and commands to pray, to approach God’s holy altar by His mercy regularly, but we can misconstrue the intent of this instruction. In the flesh our concept of prayer can be limited to asking of God, coming to Him to get and take what we need. Yet prayer is not as much for us as it is for our God, the One to whom we lift our praises and concerns. When we cast our dependence on Him it is a pleasing expression of absolute trust in His sufficiency and goodness.

Incense is intended to be a pleasing, fragrant aroma to those in its circle of fragrance. As we set aside time for the Lord, we can train ourselves to think of offering instead of procuring, emitting instead of consuming. If we’ve grown, usually unconsciously, self-centered and ‘all about me,’ we must exhale self in order to breathe in His Spirit and think differently.

How might we set our eyes and yearnings toward the Lord anew? With what praises and gratitude can we fill bowls before Him today? He is worthy of our best.

“From prayer that asks that I may be
Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee,
From fearing when I should aspire,
From faltering when I should climb higher;
From silken self, O Captain, free
Thy soldier who would follow Thee.

From subtle love of softening things,
From easy choices, weakenings,
(Not thus are spirits fortified,
Not this way went the Crucified)
From all that dims Thy Calvary
O Lamb of God, deliver me.

Give me the love that leads the way,
The faith that nothing can dismay
The hope no disappointments tire,
The passion that will burn like fire;
Let me not sink to be a clod;
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.” ~Amy Carmichael (1870-1951)

Lord, may I continually exalt You and exude the fragrance of praise, dependence, and thanksgiving in pleasing fashion throughout my hours.