Matthew 6:9 “Father”

 Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁹Therefore, you (pl.), pray thus: Our Father who [is] in the heavens, may Your name be hallowed.

The Lord’s prayer, as recorded in Matthew 6:9-13, is something most of us in America have heard and repeated our entire lives. At first glance, my heart looks at it and thinks, “I already know that.” However, I realize I have never actually studied it or made any real effort to understand its various lines – which all means there is probably a treasure chest of truths just awaiting my deliberate perusal!

That I am finding to be exactly the case.

First of all, however, I want to comment on something I’ve observed. Over the years I have heard people say that all our prayers should be modeled after this prayer. They then assert that we must follow this order exactly. I agree that approach would seem to be what Jesus is intending, as He does say, “Pray thus:” However, there is one huge fact that utterly militates against any such ideas. If you read through your Bible from cover to cover, you will find many, many prayers uttered by godly men and women, not to mention Jesus Himself.

What you will note is that there is not a single prayer in that entire Bible which scrupulously follows this model. We ourselves can assert, on the authority of the entire Word of God, that there is no pattern which we are somehow required to follow in order for God to hear us. Just an example is the entire book of Psalms. Each one is a prayer. However, you’ll note there is no common pattern to the Psalms.

The reason I’ve pointed this out is that I believe this “prescribed pattern” idea actually discourages people from praying. Prayer is nothing but talking to God. That being the case, He just wants us to come to Him and pour out our feeble prayers. This is the thought behind the familiar Romans 8:26, “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”  The fact is, prayer is like our two-year-old talking to us. We don’t care if they make any sense at all, or if their requests are silly. We just love to hear their little voice! So it is with our God.

These thoughts lead us right into the prayer’s opening words: “Our Father, who is in heaven…” What a blessing – to have the Lord Himself encourage us to address our prayers to Him as “Father.” He, of course, has many other names: God, Lord, King, Master, … Each is very important and emphasizes something about our Lord. However, the particular one that He Himself encourages us to use is “Father.”

It is one the many blessings which Jesus purchased for us – to be uniquely able to address the Creator of the Universe as “Father.” As we read in Romans 8:15, from Jesus, we “received the Spirit of sonship, and by Him we cry, “Abba, Father.” For me personally, I have the great advantage of having had wonderful parents. One of my earliest memories is of always being able to crawl into my father’s lap and enjoy his big strong arms around me. He was my hero and always there to provide for us, protect us, correct us, teach us, show us – whatever was needed. And as with both of my parents, there has never been a second of my human existence where I ever questioned whether they loved me.

That said, it’s never been difficult for me to embrace God as my Father. I say that particularly because I know too many people didn’t have that kind of childhood. Because of that, many struggle with this idea that God is their Father. Instead of my memories of love, too many think instead of abuse or neglect. That is too bad, but, no matter where we come from, we can all pray to a God who is everything a father should be.  

To know God as “Father” is all about grace. It’s all about that “unmerited favor.” A father’s love is not dependent on anything the child does or doesn’t do. Just like a mother, a father loves his children simply because they’re his. He may at times deal with them sternly (because they need it), while at other times affectionately (just because), but always in love.

As the old country song went, “Daddy’s hands weren’t always gentle, but I’ve come to understand, there was always love in Daddy’s hands.” Thus is God our Father’s heart toward us. That is the thought behind Hebrews 4:16: “Let us then come boldly before the Throne of Grace, that we my obtain mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

I am so thankful for this verse and God’s gracious fatherhood behind it. I think it’s always true, when I come to pray, that I am keenly aware of my unworthiness. I know I’m an idiot, that I have failed miserably in this life God gave me, that I am a proud, selfish, lustful excuse for a servant of God. Yet He beckons me, because of Jesus, to “come boldly!” I certainly need to “obtain mercy” and to “find grace to help,”  since I’m constantly “in time of need.” So, I do just that. Just come to Him and revel in that grace, climb up into His lap and enjoy His big arms around me, even if sometimes it’s my sins and failures that draw me to that lap!

What a pleasure to be able to remind myself that, because of Jesus, I never have to come to God as Judge, but as Father. The Judge only cares about the rules. Our Father loves us.

That leads us back to grace, because a true believer’s response to God’s fatherly love is to love Him in return. That is why our very next line is “Hallowed be Thy name.” Us recipients of His wonderful grace can only long to see Him glorified in this world. Though I may do a terrible job of it, yet that is my heart’s desire, that He should be glorified through my puny life. Part of coming to Him in prayer is to ask Him to use me for His glory, knowing full well if He doesn’t help me, I will fail. “For without Me, you can do nothing,” Jesus said.

It all circles back to the name He urges us to use: Father. As we will see, that name, and all it means – and the grace it carries – will infuse every line of this prayer. Then let us find a quiet spot and in fact, “pray thus” – to God our loving Father!