Exodus 30:1-10: a reflection

1“You shall make an altar to burn incense on. You shall make it of acacia wood. 2Its length shall be a cubit, and its width a cubit. It shall be square, and its height shall be two cubits. Its horns shall be of one piece with it. 3You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top, its sides around it, and its horns; and you shall make a gold molding around it. 4You shall make two golden rings for it under its molding; on its two ribs, on its two sides you shall make them; and they shall be for places for poles with which to bear it. 5You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. 6You shall put it before the veil that is by the ark of the covenant, before the mercy seat that is over the covenant, where I will meet with you. 7Aaron shall burn incense of sweet spices on it every morning. When he tends the lamps, he shall burn it. 8When Aaron lights the lamps at evening, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations. 9You shall offer no strange incense on it, nor burnt offering, nor meal offering; and you shall pour no drink offering on it. 10Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once in the year; with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once in the year he shall make atonement for it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the LORD.”

God commands a small golden altar, placed just before the veil, near the ark and the mercy seat, at the very place where he says he will meet with his people. On it Aaron is to burn fragrant incense every morning and every evening, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout the generations. Day and night, a sweet cloud is to rise continually in the place of God's presence.

Scripture elsewhere tells us what this incense pictures: the prayers of God's people rising to him. The altar stood closest to the place of meeting, and its smoke went up constantly, morning and evening, without a break across the years. It is a beautiful image of a life of prayer, not just occasional cries in crisis but a steady, fragrant offering that ascends to God at the start and the close of each day.

Consider what it would mean to build that rhythm into your own life, a morning and an evening turning to God, so that prayer becomes perpetual rather than sporadic. Your prayers, offered through Christ, rise to God like that fragrant cloud, welcome and pleasing to him. Do not think you must wait for great occasions to pray. Keep the incense burning, morning and evening, and let your ordinary days be framed by conversation with God.

Lord, before your presence a sweet incense rose morning and evening, without ceasing, a picture of prayer ascending to you. Build that rhythm into my days, so that I turn to you at their beginning and their end. Receive my prayers through Christ as a fragrant offering, and let my whole life become a continual turning toward you. Amen.