A Sweet Smell to the Lord

Psa 141:2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

Incense employed in the house of the Lord was for the purpose of covering the smell of bloody sacrifices. Gallons upon gallons of blood were shed on a daily basis and the smell would have been sickening to the uninitiated.

Incense was carefully prepared, only certain types could be "set forth." Remember what happened when the sons of Aaron burned an unprescribed incense to the Lord? He fried them on the spot. The incense was then lit and the aroma covered the smell of the blood and of the animal's odors.

In like manner, we ought to carefully set forth our prayers before the Lord and allow Him the joy of inhaling the beautiful aroma of our fellowship with Him.

In Revelation 8:4 we see a beautiful thing, “And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.”

And again in Rev. 5:8, “And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.”

Prayer is a beautiful aroma to God. Why then do we offer so little of this oblation to God? Why must our prayers be so sparse, so feeble and so distracted?

Let us each offer to God a sweet smelling odor in prayer this day, a little more meaningful, a little more lengthy and a little more fervent.