Jesus, who knew what was in the heart of men, warned of the hypocrisy of those whose prayer life is only ever public. “When you pray,” he said, “you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward” (Matthew 6:5). The reward they longed for, they received—the recognition and acclamation of men.
But we should desire something far higher and nobler than that. Hence, “when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (verse 6). When we desire the acclamation of God, when we desire his divine rewards, we gladly pray in secret, where no one but God can see us. We are content if our prayers are heard by God alone. We prove that we will forego the praise of men if only we can hear the “well done” of God.
To be on our knees alone before God proves who and what we really are. It proves whom we really serve. As Robert Murray McCheyne so famously said: “What a man is on his knees before God, that he is, and nothing more.”
