and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!
—Psalm 141:2
“You shall make an altar on which to burn incense... And you shall put it in front of the veil that is above the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is above the testimony, where I will meet with you. And Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it. Every morning when he dresses the lamps he shall burn it, and when Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it, a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations.”
“And the incense that you shall make according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be for you holy to the Lord.”
—Exodus 30:1a, 6-8, 37
...pray without ceasing...
—1 Thessalonians 5:17
And 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.
—Revelation 5:8
An article in Harvard Medicine Magazine quotes Rachel Herz, a neuroscientist at Brown University: “Smell can instantly trigger an emotional response along with a memory, and our emotional states have a very strong effect on our physical well-being,”
The phrase "morning and evening" (or "evening and morning" in the ancient idiom) may be understood as the boundaries of the day, but can also lead us to consider the entirety of the day. Moses instructed Israel to teach and consider the words of the Lord in the morning and evening (“when you lie down and when you rise”) but also throughout all of life, sitting, walking, inscribed on entries and exits, and worn on the body.
The high priest was to burn incense morning and evening in the Holy Place when he tended to the lamps on the lampstand. Therefore we can see an intimate connection between prayer and life and light, a connection that David explored poetically in Psalm 141. Perhaps Paul, well-versed as he was in the Law and Prophets and Psalms, may have had this in the back of his mind when he wrote the instruction to pray unceasingly.
The image of the throne room of the Lord in Revelation also clearly identifies incense and prayer.
And the instructions for the incense altar and incense included another detail that still teaches us. The incense was unique—nothing like it was to be used anywhere else or for any other purpose. When the Lord's people come to Him in prayer—in all its forms, whether thanksgiving or praise or petition—it is unique. It is to stand before the throne of the One—the only One!—who is worthy of praise and who cares for His own.
Fragrant Prayer
Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!
—Psalm 141:2
“You shall make an altar on which to burn incense... And you shall put it in front of the veil that is above the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is above the testimony, where I will meet with you. And Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it. Every morning when he dresses the lamps he shall burn it, and when Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it, a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations.”
“And the incense that you shall make according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be for you holy to the Lord.”
—Exodus 30:1a, 6-8, 37
...pray without ceasing...
—1 Thessalonians 5:17
And 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.
—Revelation 5:8
An article in Harvard Medicine Magazine quotes Rachel Herz, a neuroscientist at Brown University: “Smell can instantly trigger an emotional response along with a memory, and our emotional states have a very strong effect on our physical well-being,”
The phrase "morning and evening" (or "evening and morning" in the ancient idiom) may be understood as the boundaries of the day, but can also lead us to consider the entirety of the day. Moses instructed Israel to teach and consider the words of the Lord in the morning and evening (“when you lie down and when you rise”) but also throughout all of life, sitting, walking, inscribed on entries and exits, and worn on the body.
The high priest was to burn incense morning and evening in the Holy Place when he tended to the lamps on the lampstand. Therefore we can see an intimate connection between prayer and life and light, a connection that David explored poetically in Psalm 141. Perhaps Paul, well-versed as he was in the Law and Prophets and Psalms, may have had this in the back of his mind when he wrote the instruction to pray unceasingly.
The image of the throne room of the Lord in Revelation also clearly identifies incense and prayer.
And the instructions for the incense altar and incense included another detail that still teaches us. The incense was unique—nothing like it was to be used anywhere else or for any other purpose. When the Lord's people come to Him in prayer—in all its forms, whether thanksgiving or praise or petition—it is unique. It is to stand before the throne of the One—the only One!—who is worthy of praise and who cares for His own.