“Then Bezalel made the incense altar of acacia wood…”

Exodus 37:25 (NLT)

The gold incense altar was in the Holy Place of the tabernacle. The priest would offer incense on it daily. We know that everything God told Moses to make was according to the pattern he was shown on Mount Sinai. These were all copies of heavenly counterparts. In the book of Revelation, we are told about the gold altar in heaven.

“Then another angel with a gold incense burner came and stood at the altar. And a great amount of incense was given to him to mix with the prayers of God’s people as an offering on the gold altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, mixed with the prayers of God’s holy people, ascended up to God from the altar where the angel had poured them out.”

Revelation 8:3–4 (NLT)

It is marvelous to think that our prayers arise before God as a sweet fragrance. In Proverbs 15:8 we are told that the prayer of the upright is the delight of the LORD. Sometimes we pray and are amazed at how quickly our prayers are answered. But other times we pray, and it seems like nothing is happening. We humans are results-oriented and impatient. But God delights in our prayers, is on a different time schedule, and works all things according to His sovereign will. We don’t always know how to pray as we ought, but the Holy Spirit helps us, interceding for us according to God’s will (Romans 8:26-28). We also know that He hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him, and He will give us what we ask for (1 John 5:14-15). Knowing these things should cause us to pray more faithfully. God is storing up our prayers in heaven, and He will answer them in His time and in His way.

So let us be faithful to offer up our incense—not only because of the answers we hope to receive in the future, but also because God uses prayer to change us today and to help us do what pleases Him.

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