Matthew 6:7

“And in praying do not use vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do,

For they think that they will be heard for their much speaking.”

In praying they are not to ‘use vain repetitions.' This might literally be translated, ‘do not babble' (but the word is a rare one and its exact meaning is not known). The word is battalogeo. It may reflect the Hebrew word ‘batel' meaning vain or idle. Or it may reflect the Greek root ‘batt' meaning ‘stuttering'. Taken with logeo it could therefore mean speaking vainly or idly, or going on and on in a fairly meaningless way. But in compound words as here logein can mean ‘to gather'. Thus it may signify a gathering together of vain or babbling words. The point being made is that prayers that go on and on for their own sake, or are completely repetitive, possibly even including some kind of formulae for persuading the deity to respond, but have no heart in them, will achieve nothing from God. This would include unthinking repetition of prayers by rote, or with a prayer wheel or other aid. It does not, however, discourage the practise of writing out our prayer and laying it before God. It is not a question of method, but of genuineness and motive. Such aimless prayers, says Jesus, achieve nothing. What matters it that the prayer comes from the heart and is genuine, and furthermore that it comes from those whose hearts are right.

The point being made here is that because they are now disciples of Jesus, and have repented and come under the Kingly Rule of God, they can come to God as their Father. Prayer has suddenly become a more vital thing. And no child should see itself as needing to force itself on its father's attention by constant babbling and endless persistence. Rather the child should be straight and to the point. And that being so, that should also be the approach of the disciples to their a heavenly Father.

The Gentiles, and many Jews also, were seen as knowing no better. They did not know God as their Father in this personal way. They were not in any genuine relationship with Him. Thus they saw God as Someone far off and inaccessible who had to be persuaded and bribed, Someone Who had to be constantly harassed until He gave way. They did think that they could wear God down, or somehow persuade Him to do their will, often by using techniques. For their conception of God was such that they knew no other way to go about it. In contrast the disciple knows that God is now his Father in Heaven, and that he can therefore approach Him as such. He knows that he does not need to speak a lot, and that he does not need to go on and on at God, but that God is ready to listen to him. And he also recognises that He must remember who God is. So he does not rush in with rash words. He remembers that, ‘God is in Heaven, and you are on the earth, therefore let your words be few' (Ecclesiastes 5:2).

But that is not to say that he does not spend much time in prayer. Jesus Himself certainly did, and He prayed long and hard (Luke 6:12). Nor was He afraid to repeat His essential prayers (Matthew 26:39). The difference lay in His purpose in praying, the fullness of heart that lay behind His praying, His readiness to listen, and in what He hoped to achieve. In Jesus' case the aim was to establish His Father's will and then to do it. It was in order at all times to maintain close fellowship with His Father. He had not the slight intention of ‘wearing Him down' or trying to persuade Him against His will, or of ‘getting what He wanted' by badgering Him. Rather He wanted to spend time with His Father, and discover His will, and do it. And that is what our aim should be too.