“O Lord, I call to you; come quickly to me. Hear my voice when I call to you. May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.”—Psalm 141: 1-2, NIV
When I experience and express gratitude, I know I am moving closer to God. We are being wooed and won over by Him when we experience a deep sense of thankfulness for all the benefits and blessings in our lives.
“May my prayer…be like incense,” David the psalmist wrote. “Golden bowls full of incense…are the prayers of God’s people,” the Apostle John wrote centuries later (Revelation 5:8, NIV).
The pungent and overpowering scent of incense fills our sense of smell and invades our sense of taste. The aroma is meant to permeate the atmosphere with beauty and awareness.
Our prayers bring God great pleasure and fill the heavens with a powerful sense of beauty—and help us lift our burdens.
“May the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.”
Praying and lifting our hands before the Lord portrays the sweet release of surrender.
All of us wrestle with the weight and worries of cares and anxieties—until we realize we are carrying burdens we are not meant to bear. If we “cast our cares upon Him” we can transfer our burdens to the place they belong: from our shoulders to the broad shoulders of our Savior and God (1 Peter 5:7).
Oh, what loads are lifted, stress relieved, and hearts lightened when we learn to give our cares to the Lord.
For that, we can give thanks and praise Him!
Whatever your interpretation of American history, remember, there was a moment in time when warring factors, men and women of different persuasions, Native Americans and pilgrims, struggled to survive. And yet, they found moments of camaraderie, desiring to live together in peace.
On October 3, 1789, our first president, George Washington, issued a proclamation. He designated November 26 as a national day of thanks to “Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.”
There have been moments when we declared it is time to give thanks.When we stop and send prayers like incense to the heavens and thank God, who loves us, for all our blessings.
