This verse reminds us of a few things.

• Not a Show – One is that prayer isn’t a show. We aren’t praying to impress people or God.
• No Distractions – Also, sometimes it’s good to get away from everything to pray, so we can pray without distractions.
• God Knows – Another is that God sees what we do in secret.

We may read that last one as a scary thing.

“Uh oh! God knows that bad thing I did the other day, even though no one else saw it.”

This is true, of course, but the implication of this passage is positive.

Remember, God loves you and wants to forgive you. Knowing that you can’t hide anything from God frees you to always go to Him when you have sinned and ask for forgiveness.

God also sees the good things we have done that no one else knows about.

In fact, in another verse, Jesus tells His disciples that when they fast, they shouldn’t make it obvious to others that they were fasting, but go through the day like everything is normal.

God would know they were fasting. And God hears us when we pray in secret. God knows the desires of our heart, both our hurts and our joys, the things we don’t share with anyone.

This doesn’t mean that we should never pray in public.

After all, there are plenty of public prayers in the Bible. Rather, this is telling us that God doesn’t want us to make a big show of our prayers. He simply wants us to go to Him and pour out our hearts…Share our struggles. Confess our sins. Share our triumphs. Ask for help. Pray for others…just between God and us.

He hears us and He answers our prayers.

Heavenly Father,

You know my heart. You hear me when I pray, even when no one else knows. Thank You.

Amen