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.
– Ecclesiastes 5:2
Wow, what a good word for all of us to hear. We’ve seen in different Proverbs how we should not be hasty with our words. All the more so, how much is that true before God? To not be quick to speak, but to be quick to listen and slow to speak?
Ecclesiastes 5:2 pictures a posture of humility before the Almighty.
I just want you to think about when you pray individually or when you pray with others. How easy is it for us to be quick with our words? “Okay, let’s pray”. And just immediately somebody starts talking and sometimes we don’t even pause to think about Who we’re talking to. And we don’t intentionally ask for the Holy Spirit to lead the way we’re praying. Or even just sit for a second or for a few seconds before God and give his Spirit room to lead us and guide us in what we’re praying.
And this is where I just want to encourage you today, tomorrow at different points this week. Be really intentional when you pray, just pause before you pray and listen. I’m even convicted as I say this for how on this podcast, it can be so quick for me to just start talking to God, which I think there’s some health in that. We want to be in continual conversation with God. And at the same time, to make sure we’re never casual in the way we approach God. And we’re always intentional and thoughtful about who we’re speaking to and what we’re saying. So I’m going to pause extra long today and just think before I say another word.
Ecclesiastes 5:2 shows the weight of our words before a holy God.
Oh God… We… Praise you for Who you are. You are in Heaven. We are on Earth. You are holy, holy, holy. There’s no one like you. And this is awesome that we’re even speaking to you right now. Oh God, we praise you for this privilege, this honor, this gift. So we pray that you would help us to steward this gift wisely. God, we pray that you would teach us to pray. God, teach me to pray. Please teach each of us to pray in ways that honor your holiness. In ways that revere and fear you. In ways that lead to continual worship and conversation with you.
And God, we pray that you would guard our words before you. Help us not–especially when we’re praying with others or even by ourselves–God, help us not to pray mindlessly or monotonously, throwing out phrases. God, help us to speak thoughtfully and listen carefully as we pray continually.
Prayer for the Ghosi People
Oh God, we pray. Specifically, together today we cry out for the Ghosi people of India. For 328,000 souls… Men, women, children. Please, God, please save the Ghosi people of India. Please cause the gospel to spread to them. Please make them a reached people group. We pray all this according to your Word in Ecclesiastes 5:2. We pray in Jesus’ name, in the name of the One who makes prayer possible. Oh God, please teach us to pray in ways that bring most glory to you and most good to others and to us. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
