"He made the incense altar of acacia wood. Its length was a cubit and its width a cubit—it was square—and two cubits was its height" (Ex. 37:25a).
In Psalm 141, David prays, “Let my prayer be set before You as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” Under the old covenant, the prayers of God’s people were to be delivered according to His own appointment, and they were sanctified in a typical fashion through the offering up of incense and sacrifices. In this psalm, we see how David relied on God’s assurance to His people that He would hear their prayers, for they would be a sweet-smelling savor to Him. Having been sanctified by the sacrifice, by the propitiation offered at the evening sacrifice in the temple, the prayers of God’s people would be heard by Him.
When David prayed this prayer, he was separated from the assembly of God’s people and unable to make the sacrifice at the temple and to offer incense on the altar of atonement. But he relied on the promise of God anyway, knowing that it was on account of God’s word that his prayers would be heard, and not on account of the sacrifices offered by the priests. The latter were only symbolic in nature—important and necessary to the external requirements of the old covenant, but foreshadows of the realities accomplished by Christ. The incense in the tabernacle reminded the people of God’s promise that their prayers would be acceptable to Him because of the sacrifice that had been made. David took great comfort in this promise, and prayed with confidence before his God.
We, too, can come to the Lord with this kind of confidence. Our prayers are acceptable to the Lord because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We do not need to be afraid that God will refuse to hear our prayers because of our sin. If we have gone to Him, confessed our sin, and found forgiveness in Christ, our prayers are made acceptable to Him on account of Christ’s blood. This is the privilege of being a member of the family of God—we pray, we cry, “Abba, Father,” and He has promised to hear us. When we are afraid, troubled, suffering, or tempted, we can take much comfort in knowing that our Lord hears our prayers. He does not hear the prayers of the ungodly, but He does hear the prayers of His people because they are sanctified by His Son’s sacrifice. Go to the Lord today and pray with confidence, for your prayers are like incense, rising up to heaven.
How often do you pray? If your prayer time is infrequent, what is the reason? Do you lack confidence and boldness to go before God because you are ashamed of your sins? Do you think He is not listening? If you are His child, He hears your prayers. Take comfort in this and go to Him in prayer. Set aside time every day to pray.
