Lord's Prayer - Part 1

Our Father in Heaven...

Given all that is going on in our world right now, it has never been more important to be a people who pray. So over the next five days, I am going to be writing a devotional working through the Lord’s Prayer. After all, if we’re going to learn how to pray, there’s no one better to teach us than Jesus.

You’re probably familiar with the words of the Lord’s Prayer, but it never hurts to be reminded, so here is what Jesus taught his disciples:

"This, then, is how you should pray: 

"Our Father in heaven, 

   hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, 

   your will be done, 

   on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

   as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

   but deliver us from the evil one."

                             - Matthew 6:9-13

Each day we will unpack a verse of Jesus' prayer, so let's begin with the first part:

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name."

Far too often, we approach prayer like a shopping list. "God, I want good health, the stock market to rebound, and some toilet paper. Oh, and if it's not too much trouble, can you get my boys to be nice to one another?" The problem with this approach is it treats God like an Amazon fulfillment center. We give Him our wish list, pay for it with good behavior, and then we expect Him to deliver it in 2-days or less.

But I've got news for you: God is not Amazon. He's not some cosmic vending machine that we an control. He's the creator and sustainer of the universe. He made us in His image to carry out His will, not the other way around, so we need to keep who we're talking to in perspective. 

That is why when Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, he began by rooting his prayer in who God is:

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name."

There are two crucial parts of God's character that Jesus identifies: He is our Father and He is Holy. Let's take the second part first.

Hallowed (or holy) simply means "set apart" or "other." And it reminds us that our God stands above all the chaos we're experiencing. He's not swept up in it or overwhelmed by it. What's more, God isn't shackled by the same limitations we are. He may have created time, but His perspective isn't limited by it. He knows the end from the beginning. He's not surprised by what we're going through, and He knows how He will use it to bring about His purposes and plans.

So God is not some cosmic vending machine that we can use to get our way. He is our sovereign God and He is worthy of our reverential respect. But this fact is balanced by the other aspect of God's character that Jesus highlights: He is our Heavenly Father.

While He may stand above the chaos of our current reality, He also chooses to enter into it, to remain intimately connected with us. And as our Father, He cares deeply about us. And that's why we can come to Him with our cares, our concerns, and our cries for help.

The beauty of Jesus' opening is that it grounds our prayers in the truth of who we are talking to: He is our loving Father who wants to talk with us, but He's also our transcendent God whose ways are higher than our own and who sees what we're going through in the context of the whole scope of history. So His response to our prayers will never be short-sighted or insufficient.

God, we thank you that you are God and that you are in control. But we are so grateful that you are also our Heavenly Father who hears our cries and cares about us, your children.