“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name”
The words “in heaven” should never be taken out of the context of “Our Father.” We are coming in prayer to “Our Father”, but we need to be reminded that He is not just any Father. Our earthly fathers are imperfect and tainted by sin; He is perfect and holy. Before we approach Him in prayer then, we need to sit still for a moment and think about Who it is we will be talking to. We need to remind ourselves of His words in the Bible, His wonderful works, and also how He has done great things in our lives in the past. We should never approach Him with the unbelief and discontent of the children of Israel in the desert. But we do sometimes, don't we? This then is where we must remember that He is our Father. He not only knows about you in the sense that He is all knowing, but also in the sense that a father knows about a child, and knows what is good for that child. God in His almightiness looks at His children with a holy love and knows their every need. If you are His child, He is much more anxious to bless you than you are to be blessed! Consider then, before you approach Him, into Whose presence you are about to enter, and that He is your Father in heaven.
The words “in heaven” should never be taken out of the context of “Our Father.” We are coming in prayer to “Our Father”, but we need to be reminded that He is not just any Father. Our earthly fathers are imperfect and tainted by sin; He is perfect and holy. Before we approach Him in prayer then, we need to sit still for a moment and think about Who it is we will be talking to. We need to remind ourselves of His words in the Bible, His wonderful works, and also how He has done great things in our lives in the past. We should never approach Him with the unbelief and discontent of the children of Israel in the desert. But we do sometimes, don't we? This then is where we must remember that He is our Father. He not only knows about you in the sense that He is all knowing, but also in the sense that a father knows about a child, and knows what is good for that child. God in His almightiness looks at His children with a holy love and knows their every need. If you are His child, He is much more anxious to bless you than you are to be blessed! Consider then, before you approach Him, into Whose presence you are about to enter, and that He is your Father in heaven.
“Hallowed be Your Name”
One thing we have to learn as we come to God, is that the familiarity and security of our relationship with Him is not an invitation to us to push forward and demand what we think we need and throw tantrums until we get it. This petition is placed here to halt the impulse of crisis praying and direct us to the greater need to keep the things of God constantly before us. The Lord Jesus would have us pre-empt the claims of self for the higher claims of God’s program.
Throughout the Bible, God is very careful to point out the distinctives that are associated with His Name and that separate Him from everyone else. Because He is exceedingly jealous for His Name, He insists that nothing be allowed to cheapen its glory or dim its distinctives. His Name is to be hallowed, as He reminds us time and again, it is the value of God’s Name that Satan is out to cheapen, so to pray “Hallowed be Your Name” is right in line with God’s will. We may see here the picture of Jesus, eyes blazing and with a whip of cords driving the money changers out of the temple. This is the attitude we should have to anything in our lives, our homes or our country that dishonours God’s Name. If Christians were sincere in praying this prayer, it would have to have an effect on their lives and their example to the world. Jesus gives this the priority place because it is the priority for His people!
Acknowledgements:
Born for Battle, by R. Arthur Mathews
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, vol 2., by Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones
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