We can pray in two ways: through unspoken thoughts that we direct toward God and through words that we speak audibly. In both cases, we focus our attention on God, knowing that he surely and certainly hears our prayers, whether they are “unuttered or expressed.”

Calvin noted that sometimes the best prayers are silent—inaudible to others and known only by the one who is silently praying and by God. He wrote, “Even though the best prayers are sometimes unspoken, it often happens in practice that, when feelings of mind are aroused, unostentatiously the tongue breaks forth into speech, and the other members into gesture. From this obviously arose that uncertain murmur of Hannah’s [1 Sam. 1:13], something similar to which all the saints continually experience when they burst forth into broken and fragmentary speech.”

The example of Hannah touches us. As she prayed for a son, she was “deeply distressed” and “wept bitterly” (1 Sam. 1:10). Her desire was so deep that she was “praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard” (v. 13). Our silent prayers break forth into speech, even when they are not heard by others. Our lips move, even if only in “broken and fragmentary speech,” as Calvin says.

God hears all our prayers—whether they are silent, audible, quiet, or loud expressions. This comforts us. It is not the “form” of the prayer that counts but the prayer’s focus on God. We can let our tongues “break forth into speech” and know that God hears our words and thoughts—however they are expressed!

—Donald K. McKim, author, Everyday Prayer with John Calvin