Psalm 141:2 – May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
We conclude our month of devotions on prayer with a psalm that is ripe with imagery. And what beautiful imagery it is!
In this psalm David was calling on the Lord to protect him. This is something many of us can relate to and have probably voiced in our own prayers at one point or another. In his words, we see David’s love for God through the poetic nature of his psalm. He compared his prayers to incense, which was something that accompanied the evening sacrifices in the temple. David compared his prayers to the incense, his lifted hands to the evening sacrifice.
Imagine what that might look like. You have probably seen incense burning at some point in your life, so know the scent-filled smoke slowly sways, shifts, and eases its way heavenward. That is the image we should see as we speak our prayers to God. Our prayers should be lifted to Him in the same manner, making their way to Heaven to the great throne of our God.
And as our prayers are making their way up, our hands should be raised to Him, too. We lift our hands to signify our need for Him, showing that our hands are empty but reaching for Him. We are expressing our need to God with our hands raised in humble adoration.
It is my hope that you are able to fall before Him with hands raised and your prayers wafting up to the heavens. It is a fitting end to our month and beautiful imagery that should encourage and inspire your own prayers.
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