Unintentional Prayers

 October 31, 2022

In Numbers 12, Aaron and Miriam were complaining that their younger sibling Moses was in their opinion, getting all the glory. God was speaking to him instead of them. Moses was head honcho of the Israelites, a rather dubious honor. In the previous chapter, Moses was having it out with God, wanting to know what he had done that God was inflicting him with the responsibility of leading this wayward lot. Apparently, Aaron and Miriam only saw the glory; they weren’t privy to the burden.

The text doesn’t tell who they had taken their complaints to; perhaps they were just commiserating with each other, but there was a third party listening in. It says, “But the LORD heard it.” Ah, yes. Whenever we have conversations, even in our heads, there is another party listening in. I wonder if when it seems God isn’t hearing our prayers, the actuality is that he is hearing the prayers we utter in the form of griping and complaining, of criticizing and bad-mouthing. 

A day’s worth of complaint and criticism doesn’t stand much of a chance to offset five minutes of prayer. In fact, we are praying all the time. God is listening to our words, and I suspect he answers more prayers than we realize; it’s just not the prayers we identify as such. This is why the Bible warns us to be careful with our words. Jesus said we will give account for every idle word we utter. James cautions that the tongue is a raging fire, and the Proverbs admonish us to let our words be few and to put a knife to our throat rather than speak rashly. 

I wonder how our speech would change if we realized God is listening to every word we utter, and that those idle words are just as surely prayers as those we so piously intone in our devotions or in worship.