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No such thing as a stupid prayer? Think again.
We assume that whenever someone prays, it’s a good thing. Scripture challenges that notion. In fact, God tells us that our prayers can not only be stupid, but evil. You’ll probably never have anyone criticize your prayers, so evaluate yourself.
Read Ecclesiastes 5:1-3 and estimate how many of your recent prayers were either stupid or evil in God’s eyes.
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business, and a fool's voice with many words.
Most of us were taught to pray by closing our eyes and telling God whatever is on our minds. It made sense to us, so we never questioned it. It’s what our leaders exemplified to us, so we just followed suit. How many of us can say we searched the scriptures to learn how to pray? That’s what I endeavor to do here.
Let’s take a closer look at what Solomon says about prayer, keeping in mind that God made him the wisest man of his time.
Nowadays, we interpret this instruction figuratively, but in Solomon’s day it was very literal. He is talking about the approach into the temple, towards the Holy of Holies, the most sacred space where God’s special presence dwelt. It’s hard for us to comprehend the weight of Solomon’s instruction here because we don’t treat anything as truly sacred anymore. We don’t taste the consequences of bad worship.
The temple demanded sacredness; there were very specific rules that needed to be observed, and very real consequences for disobedience. In Leviticus 10, Aaron’s sons offer unauthorized incense before the Lord, and He strikes them down on the spot. Later, in Leviticus 16, it says:
The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aarom, when they drew near before the LORD and died, and the LORD said to Moses, ‘Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. And he shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.
Can you imagine how weighty these instructions must have felt for Aaron, having watched two of his sons die because they approached God in an unworthy manner? How careful he must have been to observe every detail each time he went into the Holy Place? This is the kind of vigilant reverence that Solomon is talking about when he says to guard your steps when you go to the house of God.
We’ve all been in situations where someone bursts onto the scene with their own agenda, having no awareness of what was going on before they entered the conversation. I have certainly embarrassed myself by jumping into a conversation with a foolish comment because I didn’t know or care about what was going on before I arrived.
When we come to pray, we ought to consider the context that we are about to enter. In the throne room of God, myriads of angels have been incessantly proclaiming, “Holy, holy, holy.” If you draw near to listen, you may find yourself inclined to join their praise rather than bursting on the scene with your own agenda.
We tend to think that if our intentions are good, then God is pleased. Scripture repeatedly contradicts this. Our ways are not His ways, and our thoughts are not His thoughts. We cannot just assume that because the way we pray feels right to us, it is what God wants. Solomon calls people who approach God in an unworthy manner fools, because they think they are honoring God when they are actually offending Him.
Have the humility to consider that you may have been praying wrong your whole life. Ask God to reveal to you any ways you might be off. If He reveals something to you, repent, and then rejoice! God disciplines and corrects those He loves. He longs for purity and intimacy in your prayer life even more than you do. Thank Him for this, and cry out to the Holy Spirit to help you pray as you ought (Romans 8:26).
These days, there is such a pressure to respond quickly. Some of us pride ourselves on how quickly we can respond to numerous texts and emails. This wreaks havoc on our prayer lives. Because we have developed the habit of being quick to speak, we now need to form a habit of not immediately speaking when we come into His presence. People consider it disrespectful if you don’t respond quickly. God finds it offensive if you do.
Be quiet and listen to the sound of your own breath. Acknowledge that each breath is only possible in conjunction with His power. Acknowledge that your ability to think properly is dependent on His grace.
Picture the throne room as it is described in Scripture (see Isaiah 6, Revelation 4). Almighty God is surrounded by angels worshipping Him right now. Recognize that before speaking. Reflect on some of His attributes before saying anything.
Put yourself in the place of God for a moment: You know everything and are all powerful. A human approaches you and starts explaining his situation to you and gives you some suggestions on how you should respond to the situation. A different person quietly comes into your presence, joins the angels in worship and tells you that he trusts your plan in his current situation. He then shares feelings and desires as he would share with a friend. Who would you listen to?
This is the natural response for those who see God clearly. When John, the beloved disciple who laid His head on Jesus’ chest, sees Jesus in His glorified state, he can’t even speak. He just falls at Jesus’ feet as though dead. It is true that God wants us to pour out our hearts before Him, but that does not mean we come flippantly and start venting. Consider Jesus’ example:
In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. (Hebrews 5:7)
We know from the gospel accounts that Jesus was in agony, to the point of sweating blood as He poured out His heart before the Father. He wasn’t holding back any of His emotion, and yet He was crying out with reverence and unwavering trust in the Father’s will.
Prayer is an incredible privilege, and one that we should not take lightly. As you finish this article, take a moment to come slowly, humbly, reverently, into God’s presence. Thank Him for the gift of being able to commune with Him through prayer, and ask Him to teach you how to do so in a way that pleases Him.
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