God hears your prayers – even those that aren’t expressed in fully-formed words

Sometimes in my classes, a little assignment that expects a brief response (such as an online discussion) will yield deep and thoughtful responses from some persons.  The thoughts shared below happened like that.  Lizzie Kogler offered some heartfelt musings about the prayers of our hearts.

Thoughts concerning prayer

by Lizzie Kogler

Think back to a time when everything in your life seemed to be going completely wrong.  You lay awake at night thinking about how full your plate was, but how empty your stomach was, or about how many duties and obligations you had, but how little energy you had. When there was nowhere left to turn, did you close your eyes and pray?

For me, this is the kind of pray-er I have become. I have become someone who keeps trudging through the muddy streets of life, gradually slowing down, until I fall face-first into the stinky goo. Then and only then are my prayers passionate, a pleading cry for help.

Do you ever fall into this same trap of holding out until prayer is your last resort? It's not like I think that God isn't powerful enough or present enough to save me. It is more my sinful nature of wanting to think that I by myself am enough to get through life. And then, time and time again, I fall down on my knees looking upwards toward the cross, still stained in red.

So this leads me to a question concerning prayer. 

In the Large Catechism, Martin Luther wrote, "Let people learn to value prayer as something great and precious and to make a proper distinction between babbling and praying for something."  I don’t disagree with Luther … but I also wonder.  Are there ever times that our babbling (or what might seem like babbling) indeed is prayer?

Certainly there is a difference between mere babbling and true prayer.  According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, "Babbling is talking rapidly and continuously in a foolish, excited, or incomprehensible way" … whereas prayer was defined by Jesus this way:  "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 ... But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen ... And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:5-8).

Are there times where we are foolish, excited, or hard to understand? Absolutely, we are human. But this does not mean that we should not come to the Lord in prayer, for fear of the sin of babbling. Jesus encourages us to cast all our anxieties on him, because he cares for us (cf. 1 Peter 5:7).  This means coming to Jesus with an open heart, ready to hear his forgiveness, peace, and comfort.

I will admit that sometimes I am afraid to pray. I am not worried about whether God is going to give me or not give me what I am asking for. I do not feel nervous about his plan for my life. It is more that I feel guilty for not praying as much as I could or should.  But then I remind myself that God is gracious and hears my prayers.   He hears your prayers too – even those that aren’t fully or perfectly formed into clear words.

Passages for prayerful encouragement:

In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help.   From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.

Psalm 18:6

But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

James 1:6

Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. 

Hebrews 4:16

The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

Romans 8:26