God’s Constitution, Pt 20: Prayer (a)
Matthew 6:5-15 5“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9“This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11Give us today our daily bread. 12And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.’ 14For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 1Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. 2Do 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.
Note: This passage is far too lengthy and weighty to be discussed in just one posting so it will be presented in four parts:
a) How not to pray (v5-8)
b) The correct way to pray
1) The Lordship of our Father (v9-10)
2) Our need of Him (v11-13)
c) The necessity of forgiveness (v14-15)
The problem with instructions about praying is that they often fall on deaf ears. Recently, church attendance has been falling and so of course has been the amount of time in prayer. In this passage Jesus is assuming his audience prayed because in His day prayer was frequent and regular. There were regular, set times for prayer throughout the day and some of the proscribed prayers were lengthy. It was not the procedure for prayers to be said on street corners but, as commentators have noted, it wouldn’t be too difficult to arrange one’s wanderings in such a way that one would just happen to be in a public venue when a set time for prayer arrived. It was also rather normal procedure for certain individuals to be given the opportunity to pray while standing in front of the altar in the synagogue. This had the obvious effect of focusing attention on that individual and it would seem to the congregation that that person had been elevated in importance.
Doesn’t it seem that people have the unsurprising ability to mess up a good thing? Many of Jesus’ teachings begin with an example of what not to do in a situation because the original value of the thing has been perverted by human sinfulness. That’s the case here. There’s nothing wrong with praying in public, or standing in synagogues, or even uttering lengthy prayers. But when one does it in order to be noticed, well that is a problem. There is something else in play here too. It seems to me people have an easier time praying when someone else is around rather than when they are alone. When praying in a group, often you’re there specifically to pray, or at least it will be a major part of the gathering. At home, there’s all the other things in the way, the distractions, the phone, the TV.
That’s Jesus’ point, really, because God knows everything about us already. There is nothing to be gained by trying to keep things secret from God. He knows our thoughts, he knows what we did last night, so it cannot be true that God wants us to pray so he can learn about our day. He already knows more about our day than we know about our day. No, the purpose of prayer is not the content of the prayer; it is just the conversation. God wants intimate conversation with us, not because he wants to know about us, but that we need to know about Him. Wives, how rewarding is it to have a conversation with your husband while he’s watching TV? Not very? How long did you continue that conversation? There is a similar thing going on in prayer. God wants our full attention. And honestly, if we’re to talk with that majestic, holy, righteous Being who made everything we see and can’t see, including our very self, then it seems it’s a good thing to listen.
Those guys who are praying to be noticed aren’t talking to God; they’re talking to their audience and using God as the venue. We occasionally think we have to pray in some sort of prescribed manner: Those prayers are called liturgies. They are good prayers. People have thought them through; they have chosen words and phrases specifically to convey particular meaning. They have a place in our prayer life. But there is a place for messy prayer. Did you know it is OK to yell at God? That is prayer too. It is not necessary to engage in precisely worded and structurally sound prayer. To think so is the result of a Satanic lie. Satan doesn’t want us to pray; we might actually find out God really loves us!
So, here’s the thing: We all have struggles in our lives. It is helpful to talk with God about them but feeling constrained by certain structured liturgies or positions like kneeling are lies Satan uses to keep us from praying at all. Those things are good when they are heart-felt expressions of our love for Him. By giving us these negative examples, we are being shown that personal intimate connection is what is required. So, if you feel your life is all messed up, or if you have an unhealthy dependency, or if you are just lonely God is ready to talk with you about it. Turn off the TV, turn off your phone, lock the door and just say, “God, I need help!” He will answer.