Prayer

As incense… As the evening offering…

Ps. 141:2 – May my prayer be counted as incense before You; the lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.

What is “prayer” for David?

• Prayer is when he calls upon God, when he calls to God. (Ps. 141:1) Prayer is not just something he is supposed to do, a religious formality. David has something to say, and he has to say it to God.
• Here David is praying when he is in trouble (Ps. 141:9-10). He is weak and vulnerable. When he is in need, where does David go? He is not calling upon his own resources, but he goes to God. This defines prayer for David; out of a sense of his need, he calls out to God.

Listen to David pray about his prayer.

• He asks (Ps. 141:2) that his prayer would be regarded by God as incense. Saying the same thing with different words, David asks that the lifting up of his hands (in prayer) be counted as the evening offering.
• What does David mean by this? Let’s zero in.
• What is incense? Why do people burn incense for religious purposes? They imagine they will please the deity with the aroma.
• How did incense fit into the Old Testament religion instituted by the true God (David’s context)? God designated an altar in the tabernacle for burning incense every morning and evening (Ex. 30:1, 8).
• What does incense symbolize in the broader picture of God’s salvation? Prayer from God’s people (Rev. 5:8; 8:3).
• What about sacrifice? Why do people offer sacrifices in religion? To appease the deity and turn his anger away from them when they have offended him.
• How did God regard sacrificial offerings in Old Testament religion? Among other things, they (like incense) were a soothing aroma to Him (Ex. 29:18, 25). God was pleased as He saw (“smelled”) men retreating from themselves and appealing to Him.
• How does this relate to Christ and the New Testament? Jesus is the ultimate realization of what an offering to God should be, and as such He is a fragrant aroma to God (Eph. 5:2).

What can I take away from this?

• What David desired for his prayer = what God designed for incense and offering to be in Old Testament religion = a fragrant aroma to God.
• In other words, God is pleased when we pray. It smells good to Him. Like when you drive down your driveway to home and smell steak on the grill. Our prayers are especially pleasing and fragrant to God.
• Sometimes we think that we have to pray long and hard to coax an unwilling God to hear our prayers (a la the unrighteous judge of Luke 18). Not so, for God is eager to hear our prayers, and He is absolutely delighted when we pray to Him. He is pleased when we ask Him for our needs rather than resorting to our own resources. He is pleased when we honor Jesus by coming to the Father through Him. He is pleased when in our weakness we come to His strength.
• So let’s pray! Let’s pray with faith, in confident hope that God will regard our prayers with delight!