When You Pray...

Speechless

Recall the glory that you saw.

Shade your eyes from view.

Delight yourself to stand in awe

And let your words be ---.

Ecclesiastes 5:2 warns, “Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven, and you are on earth, so let your words be few.” And this coming from the wisest man. Know who your God is. He is our loving, gracious Father, yet He is holy and set-apart.

And let your words be few. As Jesus says in Matthew 6:7, “Do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.” This doesn’t mean we should spend less time in prayer. Martin Luther is quoted as saying, “I have so much to do today that I’m going to need to spend three hours in prayer in order to get it all done.”

Neither does this mean God doesn’t want to hear from us. He absolutely does! He invites us to come before His throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Heb. 4:16). We are welcomed to not be anxious about anything but in everything, by prayer and petition, present our requests to God (Phil. 4:6-7).

Jesus means exactly what He says. Know that God hears you. Be persistent. Just don’t think that many words will get your prayers answered.

A similar theme is found in Ecclesiastes. God is holy. Think before you speak, and don’t be hasty. Delight yourself to stand in awe, and let your words be few.