Praying in Secret
“Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD . . . And Hezekiah wept sore.” -Isaiah 38:2, 3b
Here we see a great example of a Scriptural principle being acted out. King Hezekiah had just gotten a very grim prognosis: he would die of his current sickness. So he turned his face to the wall, and let out a very intimate and hear-felt prayer.
The fact that he turned his face to the wall would indicate that he was talking to God only: he did not want anyone else to hear or see him except God.
As it was with Hezekiah’s prayerful focus, so too ought we to have this same focus on God in our prayers—and it ought not to take a terminal illness to drive us to such sincerity!
Ultimately, God did hear the prayer of Hezekiah, and his life was preserved. And one reason that this was so was that Hezekiah poured out his soul before God. He didn’t do it openly, and try to make a show of himself before other men so that they would esteem him highly in their eyes, but rather, he prayed directly to the One who had the power to heal him of his sickness.
Jesus said:
“And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.” -Matthew 6:5
That last sentence should give us a strong warning against praying for show—those that do so already have their reward. That is, our prayer will not be answered: but the purpose for our prayer—to impress others—has already been fulfilled, and we have already received our reward. Instead of having an almighty and omnipotent God reward us with an answered prayer, we have already gotten our reward in our outward show.
Yet Jesus Christ shows us the true way to pray and get an answer: and that is to keep it completely secret.
“But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” -Matthew 6:6
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