Fragrance

Honeysuckle – the fragrance lingers in the air and fills the yard with sweetness! We have a honeysuckle bush and several honeysuckle vines that climb some of the trees in the woods in our backyard.

Honeysuckle - tall bush — Honeysuckle tree that is bordering the woods in our back yard.

The scientific name for honeysuckles is caprifoliaceae. The bush is large, upright and grows to 15 to 20 feet in height.

The flowers change from white to yellow and it has red berries in the fall. In late autumn, leaves typically remain green and attached well after the leaves of our native trees and shrubs have fallen.

Honeysuckle - close up — Honeysuckle blooms proliferate throughout the tree.

While seeing the blooms in the tree is beautiful, the thing that I love most about the honeysuckle is the fragrance. Scientific reports state that the honeysuckle bush flowers in May through June and that the flowers are “fragrant, in clusters from the leaf axils, tubular, 1 inch long, slender, distinctly 2-lipped, with the upper lip having 4 lobes, the lower lip with 1 lobe.”

That’s all well and good, but it does not, in my humble opinion, give enough print to the luscious fragrance of the honeysuckle bush. It fills the air on a summer evening. You can sense the fragrance even when you can’t see the flowers, you just know it is there … you can tell because you are familiar with the scent.

God has always been interested in fragrances both in His worship and in the lives of His people.

In the book of Exodus, we read this regarding the tabernacle in the wilderness:

“”You shall make an altar on which to burn incense; you shall make it of acacia wood.” … “And Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it. Every morning when he dresses the lamps he shall burn it,””

Exodus 30:1, 7 ESV

The Lord God also gave numerous instructions as to how to make the incense, when to burn it, etc. In short, God’s dwelling was to be a place of fragrant beauty. It is no surprise, then, that God’s creation is a place of myriad fragrances, and honeysuckle happens to be one that is pervasive in our yard during the summer!

The Psalmist says:

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness; you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions; your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia. From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad;”

Psalm 45:6-8 ESV

Paul tells the Ephesian Church that they were to walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us:

“And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.“

Ephesians 5:2 ESV

Christ was described as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God, on our behalf, in payment for our sins so we could avoid the wrath of God because of our sinfulness.

In response to Christ’s incredible gift of love for us, we are to give to others, to enable others to see the Lord Jesus Christ in us, and to assist our brothers and sisters in the Lord as they walk their journey of faith. Our works for others are not payment for our salvation, rather they are gifts of love in thanksgiving for what God has done for us, in other words, they are a sweet, fragrant offering to our God.

Paul said it this way:

“I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.”

Philippians 4:18 ESV

You see, we are not to hoard our blessings, but we are to give to others just as the Lord gave to us. When we do, our actions become a fragrant offering to God. Consider the words in Revelation regarding the prayers of those who have gone before us:

“And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.”

Revelation 8:3-4 ESV

Matthew Henry speaks of these verses and admonishes us as follows:

It is very probable that this other angel is the Lord Jesus, the high priest of the church, who is here described in his sacerdotal [priestly] office, having a golden censer and much incense, a fulness of merit in his own glorious person, and this incense he was to offer up, with the prayers of all the saints. … The prayers of the saints come up before God in a cloud of incense; no prayer, thus recommended, was ever denied audience or acceptance.

So, as Christians, we are to walk in love as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. We are to give to others both in terms of material help as well as with prayers, and these offerings will rise as a fragrant sacrifice to God.

We should give off the pleasing fragrance of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that fragrance should permeate the air around us so that, even if people don’t hear us say anything, they will know that we are Christians.

Enjoy the wonderful fragrance of honeysuckle, and let it remind you of the fragrance that we should give to those around us as we share the pleasing fragrance of love that our Lord Jesus Christ has given to us.

Father, I pray that I would live my life as a fragrant offering that is pleasing to you. I pray that my prayers would be presented to you through the wonderful work of Jesus as my intercessor and mediator, and that they, too, would be a fragrant offering that is pleasing to you.

Sweet. This is a word that has recently gone through a metamorphosis of meaning. It used to mean, almost exclusively, something that was sugary, lucious or candied. But now it has taken on a somewhat different turn.

The Urban Dictionary now defines “sweet” as:

An intensive used to express satisfaction, acceptance, pleasure, excellence, exaltation, approval, awe, or reverence. When used individually, the level of satisfaction expressed is most often directly proportionate to the duration of the vowel sound.

Compare:

“Mashed potatoes for dinner! Sweet.”
“I just won a million dollars? SWEEEEEEET!”

This week, I opened the window on the porch and immediately I was surrounded by the sweet aroma of honeysuckle combined with the knock-out roses beneath the window. I had seen the roses begin to bloom, but I lost track of time and did not expect to have such a wonderful surprise.

Sweet aroma – what a glorious gift. That was SWEEEEET!

Scripture talks of sweet aromas, in both the Old and New Testaments.

In the book of Genesis, God created the plants and trees, commanding the earth to bring forth vegetation, including plants yielding seed and fruit trees bearing fruit which contains their seed, each according to its kind. Genesis 1:11-12. The beautiful blooms and scents of the flowering plants are all part of God’s magnificent creation that evokes each of the senses, including sight and smell.

In the book of Exodus, God directs that “fragrant incense” be used in His Tabernacle. His worship was not to be unlovely or boring, notwithstanding the fact that they were in the wilderness. It was to include beautiful furnishings, draperies, clothing and golden ornaments; and I was to be bathed in fragrant incense.

The Psalmist talks of the sacrifices that he would bring to God, and says:

“I will offer You burnt sacrifices of fat animals, With the sweet aroma of rams; I will offer bulls with goats. Selah”

Psalm 66:15 NKJV

The Psalmist also says that the Lord wants our thoughts and meditations to be sweet:

“May my meditation be sweet to Him; I will be glad in the LORD.”

Psalm 104:34

I can have sweet meditations with the Lord only one way, when I am living in sweet communion with Him and have His Word in my heart.

“How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”

Psalm 119:103

The New Testament describes the sweet, fragrant offering that believers bring to God, through Jesus Christ:

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Ephesians 5:1-2

Indeed, Paul tells, the Corinthians that we are the aroma of Christ to God and those around us:

“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,”

2 Corinthians 2:14-15

Finally, we read of the Revelation of Jesus Christ to the Apostle John, the last book in the Holy Bible. There we read that the prayers of the saints on earth are brought to God with sweet incense:

“And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”

Revelation 5:8

Revelation 8:3-4

Here we are told that the prayers of the saints was the incense that rose before God. Can you imagine the depth of the privilege of prayer? The prayers of sinners who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb constitute the very incense in the temple of our God. Have we been praying diligently for God’s kingdom and for His children?

So, Beloved, what kind of fragrance best describes you? I don’t mean what perfume, cologne or after shave you use. I mean, when you have an interaction with someone, what aroma do you leave with them? Is it the smell of anger, hate, distrust, complaint, dissatisfaction? Is it the stench of lies, abuse, deception, or arrogant pride?

Or is it the pleasing aroma that comes when the Spriit of God lives within the child of God? Is it the aroma of a loving, kind and encouraging spirit? Is it the sweet fragrance of God’s Word in action, giving aid to those in need and lending a hand to someone in pain?

What scent do you spread when you walk through your world?

What do you smell when I pass by?

I pray it is the sweet-smelling fragrance of a heart and soul given to the Lord Jesus Christ, living for Him in witness to His great salvation and atonement for the Children of God.

Father, I pray that which the Psalmist prayed so long ago, may my meditation be sweet to You, Father, and may I be glad in the LORD Jesus Christ, my Savior and my King.