Have you ever stepped into your backyard and thought, “Whoa! My neighbors must be having a barbecue.” The unmistakable smell of smoked meat hits your nose and, for better or worse, you can’t even remember why you went outside.
Did you know that’s what worship services smelled like in Old Testament times? Priests roasted sacrifices every morning and evening. Extra meat was burned on the altar at the new moon and during festivals and holy days.
With all that smoking meat, the temple was a pretty pungent place. And God loved it. He could literally smell those offerings and they delighted Him because it meant His children were recognizing and honoring Him as LORD. Many times His fire came down from Heaven and consumed the whole sacrifice. What a sight that must’ve been!
Now, I’ve attended a church cookout or two, but my place of worship doesn’t perform daily burnt offerings. Nor should we. Jesus became our once and final sacrifice when He died on the cross, obliterating our sin in a way the blood of bulls and goats never could. Thank God!
But even without lighting up an altar, I can affect the scent of Heaven.
Let my prayer be set before You as incense,
The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
— Psalm 141:2
In his vision of Heaven, John saw “golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints” (Revelation 5:8). You can take these verses figuratively as poetry or song lyrics., but I think God can literally smell our prayers and praises.
Literal or figurative, what a beautiful sensory image of the way our prayers impact Heaven, of how our Creator delights in our worship.
When I life my voice, my words aren’t hitting the ceiling. They reach God’s throne in such purity that they change the smell of the room. When I pray, I can trust that God not only hears, He smiles like a man who just caught a whiff of fresh baked cookies. “I know what that is,” God might say to Himself. “That’s something good coming from one of my kids.”
