The Pharisees used to pray with their long robes, long prayers at synagogues, and on street corners to impress the onlookers. Impression was their goal, they got it. Prayers were not heeded or answered by God. Lord Jesus taught his disciples to pray in secret so that God could reward them openly or publicly. (Matthew 6: 5-6) All people come to God who hears prayers. (Psalms 65:2)
Joseph: He was the victim of human trafficking, sold by his brothers, bought by Midianites, and resold to Potiphar, an Egyptian. (Genesis 37) In his loneliness, with a sense of being abandoned and with homesickness, prayed to the Lord. God accounted for his cries and wanderings and answered/rewarded him to become the second-ranking official of Egypt.
David: Sweet singer David must have been worshiping and singing praises to the Lord as he tended the sheep. He was unaware of what was happening at his home as Samuel was there. God answered his longings and desires by appointing him as the king. (I Samuel 16:10-12)
Ruth and Naomi: In Moab, Naomi’s life was bitter – mara. She must have pleaded to God in secret for deliverance. Ruth could have observed the sincere and genuine prayer. God rewarded Ruth with Boaz as husband, and Naomi got a grandson, Jesse, through whose line Messiah would come.
Moses: What were Moses’ prayers, for about forty years as he tended his father-in-law’s sheep? God heard his prayers, as well as the groanings of the Children of Israel. God sent Moses and delivered them from Egyptian slavery.
Jonah: From the secret chamber of the stinking stomach of the fish, Jonah called upon the Lord. God listened to his cry and took him to Nineveh to fulfill God’s mission of preaching in Nineveh.
Nehemiah: When his relative Hanani came to Shushan, he learned about the pathetic condition of the walls of the city of Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 1) He took leave from his official duty as cupbearer, fasted, and prayed in secret. Lord used him to rebuild the wall in 52 days which was lying dilapidated for over a century.
Do I have the habit of praying in secret?