The Courage to Pray Again + Harps and Vials
Harps and Vials.
A few weeks ago, Dakota mentioned Rev 5:8 and “harps & vials…”
“And when He had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.”
When Dakota mentioned it, she said, “That was all they had: WORSHIP and PRAYERS.” This is one of those statements that has stuck with me since she said it.
Harps & vials…these are, in reality, some of the only things that will outlive us in eternity. Worship & prayer. When time wraps up and the “heavens are departed as a scroll when it is rolled together,” (Revelation 6:14) these two elements of our time on earth will remain…our worship and the prayers we have prayed.
This is counterintuitive, because so many times, our worship is a struggle, and many times our prayers feel as though they are “hitting a brass ceiling.” Our worship may be offered, in spite of human weakness and weariness. It may be offered with distractions abounding. Our prayers may be prayed through sleepiness and exhaustion. They may be prayed with seemingly no response. We may feel they are tinny and ineffective. We may feel they have barely left our lips.
But from this heavenly scene, we see that worship remains. Harps, which throughout the Bible signify worship, are still being played. The songs of earth have wafted across the celestial shore and carry on, joining the eternal song of the angels. Harps before the throne in perfect, unblighted harmonies & melodies play on.
And, prayers, they remain, too. Though they seemed insipid and pointless at certain moments of our existence, they have gone ahead of us, and their very essence changed is to incense; an aromatic substance. (Thayer’s) Though they have been prayed by people of “unclean lips,” as Isaiah expressed, (Isaiah 6:5) they are now a “sweet savour” before the throne of God.
Harps & vials.
Job’s “blessed be the name of the LORD,” while sitting in the remains of his former existence? It’s there in eternity. His “though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him,” when he had no insight into the plan of Satan or the parameters set by God? It’s there. Job’s words of worship and trust outlived him.
David’s worship? Offered from caves and from wildernesses and the palace of a javelin thrower? His worship goes beyond the black and white pages of the Book that has withstood every attack. His worship offered after the death of his infant son, a result of his own sin? That worship lives on…it mixes and mingles with the saints of a thousand generations…it’s tones and notes still being strummed on a harp before the throne. The worship you’ve offered when your prayer wasn’t answered as you’d hoped…when God hadn’t seemed to “come through…” when you lifted your hands in the long dark night of trial, and sang, “All my life you have been faithful, all my life you have been so, so good…” When you worshipped at bedsides and caskets and gravesides…at weddings and births… it’s all there. The words of faith and adoration woven by your worship are part of the scene around the throne. Eternal worship…. eternal words…unending, ceaseless praise flowing from eternity past to eternity present…never ending worship…. Harps…and vials…
Prayers…the prayers of Hannah and Hezekiah…Elijah and Elisha…all there. Every prayer of every saint throughout the ages of time are there before the throne of the Lamb in golden vials or golden bowls. The prayers of Jesus, cried out from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do…”. The prayers of Saul, turned Paul, while he waited for Ananias…the prayers made by the early church for Peter’s release.
Harps & vials…
Those prayers are an element of what is held in golden vials in heaven. Your prayers…prayers prayed for healing & deliverance… prayers prayed repeatedly when yet no answer had come? Prayers for prodigal children…for the hurting…the broken …the lost...the prayers that were poured forth as “groanings which cannot be uttered” and “prayers” that rolled down your cheeks in liquid form…the prayers you prayed when you were in the longest, darkest trial of your life…the prayers of repentance you prayed when you failed God, yourself, others… the prayers of thanksgiving when God was infinitely better that you imagined or life was worse than you could conceive…prayers prayed as you knelt at bedsides and “chair sides”…at evening, morning, and at noon? All those prayers are there in eternity…representing you in the crushed form of sweet incense. Not one is forgotten. Not one has fallen to the ground. Every word of every prayer, prayed in a secret place, or a corporate setting, is in the “golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of the saints.” Priceless, eternal prayers…prayed in daylight & darkness. Prayed on mountaintops & in the valley’s depths.
With this in mind, I will keep worshipping and continue praying…sending incense into the heavenliness…words that meld with thousands upon thousands of other words from all the ages, and all places, from “every tribe and nation,” from saints of every century.
Harps & vials…
P.S. Thinking of other things that will outlive us:
Investments in souls & people, those who receive eternal life and
Treasure. Jesus told us to “lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven…”
But I don’t have time to flesh those out today. So…
Harps & vials…… A few thoughts on worship and a few more on prayer.
Thank you for joining me for this journey!
Go grab your Bible and your journal!
I look forward to the power of this habit in your life. This is Unedited.