Prayers like Incense

…golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

Revelation 5:8 ESV

Flower children, hippies, and the unmistakable aroma of incense filled the streets and shops along “The Drag,” the street beside the university where I studied during the early 70’s.

Incense was not something new by any means-- just new to me. The nation of Israel had burned it in worship of the holy God long before the hippies discovered it in the twentieth century.

I recalled the incense of “The Drag” when reading Revelation. A scene before the throne described Jesus picking up a sealed scroll and four living creatures and twenty-four elders falling before Him.

The twenty-four elders hold in their hand a surprising element—prayers of the saints.

I have often felt that my prayers were like my breath on a frosty morning. I speak, God hears, and then my prayers dissipate. Yet, this scene symbolically depicts prayers of the saints in bowls of incense before the Lamb of God.

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 (Rev. 5:8 ESV).

The holiness of that scene brings me to a new awareness of how God treasures my words, my thoughts, my intercessions, my worship, and my time in simple conversation with Him. I know my prayers are not only heard, but also treasured.

Father, thank you for showing me how much You value my time with you. Remind me often that my prayers live eternally before you. Continue to draw me into new ways of understanding Your love. Amen

Linda Lesniewski