“Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!” – Ps 141:2 (ESV)
David uses the imagery of the temple to describe his personal prayer — incense rising before God, hands lifted in evening sacrifice. In the tabernacle and temple, incense burned continuously before the Lord: a perpetual, fragrant ascending of worship. David prays that his personal prayer would be received with that same quality of ascension — rising to God, pleasing to God, a fragrance in the divine presence. Revelation 5:8 confirms this: the prayers of the saints are golden bowls of incense before the throne. Every prayer you have ever prayed is a fragrance that has ascended to God and been received. Not one of them has dissipated into nothing.
Reflection:
How does the image of your prayers as incense before God — received, retained, fragrant in His presence — change how you value even your most ordinary, quiet prayers?
Prayer:
Lord, let my prayer rise to You as incense — pleasing, ascending, received. I lift my hands to You this evening as a sacrifice of worship. Not one of my prayers has been wasted. They are all before Your throne. Amen.
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