Today we will explore what our hopes are in prayer. Then we will use that understanding to find new expressions in our body language as a method to worship God. Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice! (Psalms 141:2 ESV) In this Psalm, there are three motions that the Psalmist hits: 1. God, pay attention to me; 2. God, keep me from doing/being evil; 3. God, keep me from being distracted. In those motions, the Psalmist realizes that he is without proper utensils (equipment) necessary to worship God properly (that is, described by the Book of Leviticus). Therefore, the Psalmist wants to improvise and substitute worship utensils for a heart of worship so that he can be received by God. In this reading of the Psalm, we understand that the hope in prayer is to be received by God and so that God can lead the person praying to holiness and therefore a communion with God. The incense in Israelite worship symbolizes a “smell pleasant to God.” What if our prayer life (the times we faithfully prayed, regardless of content) produced a smell pleasant to God, what would we smell like? Here’s what I mean: if incense is as pleasant to God as deodorant is as pleasant to a person standing way too close to other people in the AM commute; then we must smell like (you fill in the blank) as exemplified by our prayer lives. The Psalmist says that his hands lifted to the air are like “evening sacrifices” (thanksgiving). If we posture that idea with our body language, then we must beg the question: are our actions representative of acts of sacrifice (thanksgiving) before God?
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