“Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before G-d from the angel’s hand.”
Revelation 8:3-4 NKJV
My Dad loves to burn things and always has. And as a result, he builds big burn piles at the back of the property. For weeks, that sometimes drag into months, we’ll make a pile primarily of limbs of various sizes gathered from around the property. Sometimes, they’re so large you need a tractor to move them, and others are small enough to carry can be or drag behind you. Occasionally, other things find their way to the pile – things like a random piece of wood from a broken piece of furniture. But still we pile on until one day the conditions are perfect and it’s safe to burn – the wind is still, the grass around the pile is green, and the ground is not too wet and not too dry.
When it’s finally time, my Dad has a whole ritual. He gets a pump type sprayer full of water – the kind you use to spray weeds, he collects discarded paper to use as a starter, puts a pole saw in the back of his truck, grabs a drink and a lighter, and heads down to start the fire. Within minutes, the unmistakable smell of burning wood and the orange glow of the flames fill the sky behind the pond. It burns for hours, with my Dad faithfully tending the flames, until it burns itself down to just embers.
I share the story of my dad and his family-famous burn piles because I believe it’s a picture of our prayers before G-d. Sometimes we pray big, impossible, weighty prayers like the heavy limbs above. Sometimes we can only utter a few, small words in prayer like the twigs we carry in our hands. But still we pray, piling prayer upon prayer upon prayer until our Father says the conditions are right. Our prayers are offerings on the altar before Him. Our prayers feed the flame of the fire that roars before Him. Our prayers fill the air with sweet fragrance of smoke around Him. Our prayers may seem wasted at times but they are not.
May I keep pressing in and pouring out my offering of intercession to Him until my life becomes a sweet smelling fragrance, a flame of revival, and an ember of hope, all of me, completely burned up, for Him alone.
Father – thank You for how You love me. You are good and You keep doing good. Your leadership in my life is perfect and You can be trusted. Amen.
Daily Reading: Revelation 6-11
December 29, 2022