In Revelation 5:8, the four living creatures have “golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” Geerhardus Vos comments, “That the altar of incense has its place nearest to the curtain before the ‘holy of holies’ signifies he religious specificness of prayer as coming nearest to the heart of God. The offering was of a perpetual character. The notion of the grateful smell of the burning incense in the nostrils of Jehovah is somewhat removed from our own taste of religious imagery, but should not on that account be overlooked.”

Prayer is one of the guiltiest neglects of the Christian’s life. One friend told me he hears nothing on the other end, as if God might be expected to speak on the other end of a phone call. Of course God “answers” prayer through Providence, which is to say He acts, using our prayers to shape the story of the world.

The best and easiest motivation for prayer is God’s pleasure in it. We know what’s it’s like to enter a room filled with good food. That’s what our prayers are like in the ‘nostrils’ of God. He wants us to pray.