When You Pray

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

Matthew 6:5-8

As we noted last week, Jesus assumes we will give, pray, and fast. These are not optional additions to the Christian life but should be a part of our love relationship with Jesus. Jesus says that when we pray, we ought to pray in secret. Like we saw with giving, this is not a categorical absolute that prohibits group prayer or praying with others. Jesus is confronting the attitude of the Scribes and Pharisees that liked to trumpet their spiritual activities to be seen by others. He warned his disciples, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” (Luke 20:46-47)

To combat this tendency of spiritual self-promotion, Jesus instructs us to intentionally draw close to God in prayer without fanfare or notice. We do not “practice our righteousness before other people to be seen by them. (v. 1)” Instead, he tells his followers, “Go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (v. 6)” God is concerned with both what we do and our motivation for doing it. We should weigh our motivations because wanting to be seen by others may be subtle and not overt like the Pharisees. We should not live in fear of someone ever catching us in prayer, but we should not pray in a way to be seen by others.

After he talks about why we pray, he then addresses how we pray. The religious hypocrites “heap up empty phrases…for they think that they will be heard for their many words.” God sees our hearts and he knows the motivation behind our prayers. These hypocrites thought that their prayers would be more powerful or effective if they babbled on using the right spiritual phrases. Perhaps they thought that God was more likely to hear them if they used a lot of words. It might be that they thought if they used the “right” words that God would be obligated to answer them. It could be that they thought that God was busy or preoccupied and if they used a lot of words they might get God’s attention.

Regardless of their rationale, Jesus says that we should not be like them. His reason is simple, “Your Heavenly Father knows what you need before you ask him.” God is all-powerful so he can do anything that is possible even if we can’t imagine it. God is good so he will always respond with what is right when answering the prayers of his children. God is loving so we know that he is always attentive to our needs. You are God’s beloved child, and he is radically committed to you. We can talk to our Heavenly Father even if we don’t have the right words or know exactly what to say. He hears our hearts, and he understands because he already knows what we need.