Deep Sighs And Few Words

Deep Sighs And Few Words

Then Jacob prayed, “ . . . I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. . . . Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children.”

Genesis 32:9–11

When we pray, we shouldn’t “keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words”(Matthew 6:7). People who blather on when they pray aren’t thinking about God’s promises and commands regarding prayer or even the help they so desperately need. This isn’t true prayer. I used to pray this way when I was a monk. I called out to God in times of need, but I didn’t know anything about God’s promise to hear me or about his command to pray. I was only mumbling words.

Real prayer, on the other hand, comes from deep down. Like Jacob’s prayer in this passage, real prayer comes from a heart full of faith that realizes both the need to pray and God’s command to pray. Both of these truths should inspire you to pray and to think carefully about the words being prayed. But some people routinely mumble their prayers while their thoughts are far away. They’re not really praying, for they don’t even know what they’re saying.

A real prayer doesn’t require a lot of words. Instead, it often involves long, deep sighs, without any words at all. Jacob’s prayer probably wasn’t limited to the words recorded by Moses here. Most likely, Jacob sighed all day and all night. Judging from this passage, his prayer must have been very long, with few words.

Though we should use few words in prayer, we shouldn’t neglect to be thankful for how God has blessed us in the past. Remembering past examples of God’s love and faithfulness kindles our faith and pleases God. Jacob showed his gratitude to God when he prayed, “I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant.”