How Many Words Are Necessary to be Heard by God?

An invitation to write an article for publication usually comes with a request for a certain number of words. For instance, a small piece in a church bulletin might be 300 words, while a large piece could be closer to 700. Knowing the complexion and number of potential readers helps choose a topic that will be “heard” and understood. Often, a smaller number of words can “cut to the chase” faster and more efficiently.

Many Words Don’t Move the Needle

How about the words we use in prayer? Does the length of words or the time spent addressing God “move the needle” significantly? Will “many words” guarantee that we will be heard? Jesus addresses these questions in this pericope:

When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matthew 6:5-8 NABRE)

Why Bother Asking?

If God knows what we need even before we ask, why bother to pray? Why doesn’t God in His Omniscience anticipate what is best for us and put us on a divine “subscription service” that recalibrates daily according to a supernatural metric?

The answer might be found in this quote from St. Augustine: “He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent.” In other words, God wants us to have some “skin in the game.” Our consent and cooperation are vital to the salvation we are called to as God’s children. The communication that is prayer is the stuff of relationship and, by necessity, requires dialogue. The “ask” is all-important but cannot be bracketed or reduced to a “wish” when we approach God. Jesus explains asking, seeking, and knocking in the context of a relationship in the Gospel of Matthew:

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread, or a snake when he asks for a fish? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him. (Matthew 7:7-11)

With Inexpressible Groanings

If the “wicked” can interpret what their children need, how much more can our Heavenly Father? Even if we miss the mark by a mile with our prayers regarding the results we want, God will answer each request according to His wisdom, riches, and glory. In the covenant relationship we have as sons and daughters of God, we can be assured that even though we approach the Father in weakness and confusion, He answers in strength and certainty. Saint Paul explains how the Holy Spirit comes to our aid when we pray:

In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because it intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will. (Romans 8:26-27)

“Nothing I Asked For, Everything I Hoped For”

The difference between what we ask for and what God gives us is summed up beautifully in a prayer attributed to an “Unknown Confederate Soldier”:

I asked for strength that I might achieve;

I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.

I asked for health that I might do greater things;

I was given infirmity that I might do better things.

I asked for riches that I might be happy;

I was given poverty that I might be wise.

I asked for power that I might have the praise of men;

I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;

I was given life that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing that I asked for

but everything that I had hoped for.

Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered,

I am, among all men, most richly blessed.

Let us pray for the grace and strength to humble ourselves before the Lord, realizing that no matter how many words we use or how misguided our requests, God hears us and answers us in the most loving way possible.