God Does Not Need a Hearing Aid...

I’ll never forget it as long as I live. We were living in Alexandria at the time. Inevitably, during the 10:00 news there would be a commercial for a local church, a commercial featuring the senior pastor waxing eloquent about the ministries of their church. This commercial would be your usual garden-variety church commercial, except for the end - an end I found so offensive it would get me fired up every time, even though I knew it was coming.

What was it that my colleague from another tradition would say that set my teeth on edge every time I saw it and still gets my dander up thinking about it 15 years later?

“Join us [here] where we will teach you to pray to get the results you want.”

Yeah. About that.

There are so many ways that I could dissect that statement, and not all of them bad. However, what set me off the most is that idea that many might get from this phrase that there is a ‘method’ to teach people to pray ‘to get what they want.’ Without a great deal of prayerful thought and nuance, that phrase could be heard to give someone the impression that prayer is designed to get the supplicant their desired results, no matter what they may be.

Jesus touched on this idea of finding the right words to pray in verses 7-8 of Matthew 6, which are as follows:

“When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

Yesterday, we explored that prayer is not about making yourself look good in front of others. Today, we see Jesus reminding the hearers that a life of prayer is found not in the number of words one produces, but in the intentionality of your heart. 

This is crucial especially in those times where we struggle to find the words - if there are any we can find - to lift up to God those things in our hearts and on our minds. I’m sure more than a few of us at times have had the inclination (if we haven’t in general) to throw up our hands in frustration because of our perceived inability to find the words.

The good news is God knows our what is going on in our hearts and minds before we every utter a word. “Well, if God already knows, what’s the point of praying at all?” Glad you asked.

No human relationship is the perfect analogy to one’s relationship with God, but in this instance I’m reminded of those friends and family in our lives around whom we do not have to say a word for a deep connection and understanding to be present. The intimate nature of the friendship is so deep that sometimes words are not necessary.

Why is this important? Simple. By taking off us any pressure to have to find the right words or the right number of words, God is giving us permission simply to be in the presence of the divine. Precisely because God knows our needs before we ask, we can focus ourselves instead on baking in the presence of the one who created us, redeemed us, and sustains us.

God doesn’t need a hearing aid. Our creator hears us before we speak. Let worry less about the wording and more about the being present with our God.