595_Prayer as an offering (Psalm 141) Psalm 141 O Lord, I call upon you; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to you! 2 Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice! 3 Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips! 4 Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity, and let me not eat of their delicacies! 5 Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it. Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds. 6 When their judges are thrown over the cliff, then they shall hear my words, for they are pleasant. 7 As when one plows and breaks up the earth, so shall our bones be scattered at the mouth of Sheol. 8 But my eyes are toward you, O God, my Lord; in you I seek refuge; leave me not defenseless! 9 Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me and from the snares of evildoers! 10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by safely. There is a quiet dignity about an offering. Whether it is placed on an altar, laid gently at someone’s feet, or lifted heavenward in unseen devotion, an offering says something words alone cannot. It declares worth. It acknowledges dependence. It reveals the heart of the one who brings it. In his book Letters to Malcolm, C. S. Lewis observed, “I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless… It doesn’t change God. It changes me.” Prayer, at its truest, is not a transaction but a transformation. It is not merely asking; it is offering. Psalm 141 draws us into this sacred understanding of prayer—not as a hurried appeal for relief, but as a holy act placed before God like incense on the altar. David begins this psalm with urgency and reverence. He is not casual as he approaches God. “O Lord, I call upon you; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to you.” His words carry the tone of someone who knows he is standing on holy ground. Then he gives us the controlling image of the entire psalm: “Let my prayer be incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands an evening sacrifice.” David consciously connects prayer with worship, with offering, with the carefully prescribed rituals of the tabernacle. He sees prayer not as background noise to life but as something precious, something God receives. David clearly has the altar of incense in mind. Positioned directly in front of the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place, the altar of incense stood closest to the presence of God. According to Leviticus 16, the high priest would take burning coals from the altar and place incense upon them, and the fragrant smoke would rise,
