Hallowed Be Your Name - Not A Statement But A Request

In his sermon on the mount, Jesus taught us how we should pray. After teaching us to address God as "Our Father," speaking of his closeness, and declaring that he is "in heaven," a reminder of his sovereignty, Jesus gave us 6 requests to pray.

The very first request is "Hallowed be your name" (Matthew 6:9, ESV). Perhaps you have always looked at this as a statement and not a request. It is certainly true as a statement - God's name is holy. But Jesus is here teaching us to desire and seek for the glory of God, which is the purpose of all things!

How fitting that all our prayers begin with a desire for the glory of God. This is a reminder that in praying, we are not attempting to change God and line him up with our desires; prayer is rather God's changing of us and conforming us to his will. This must begin - all our prayers must begin - with a hunger for God to be glorified.

Before we rush into his presence with our list of wants, let us first bow before our sovereign Father in praise.

"Father, may your name be glorified. May it be seen as holy in my life, my household, my neighborhood and city; yes, to the ends of the earth! May the earth be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea! Lord, glorify you name!"

Hallowed be your name, Father.

Building God's House, Not Ours

In the Old Testament, God made a promise to David that his son would sit on his throne and build the Temple. Solomon built the amazingly beautiful and costly Temple, which was a visible sign of God’s presence with Israel and the true place of worship, setting Israel apart from the rest of the world as God’s people. But when Israel began to worship idols and forsook their covenant with God, he brought punishment just as he had promised (Deuteronomy 28). Babylon conquered Judah in 586 B.C. The city was burned, the Temple was destroyed, and the people were carried away into exile to Babylon. Just as God had promised 150 years before his birth, Cyrus and his Medo-Persian Empire came in and defeated the Babylonians (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1-6). Cyrus gave a decree that the Jews could return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple (and even put it on Cyrus’ bill)! "Imagine the joy and hope that flooded the hearts of the Jews as they saw God’s word come to pass before their eyes, and began to dream about their generation seeing the Temple rebuilt!" (Geraty) Now they could once again have God’s presence with them and worship him at the Temple as the chosen people of God!

In 536 B.C. thousands of Jews “made the 900 mile trip from Babylon to Jerusalem” (Dever) “They immediately rebuilt the altar and laid the foundations of the Temple (Ezra 3); then they stopped the work as they built their homes and worked their farms” (Fee and Stuart). There had been some persecution from the people of the land, and the discouraged people of God stopped building the visible sign of God’s presence with them; the thing that set them apart from the nations as God’s people (Ezra 4:4; 23)! The years passed (18!) as the people quit on God to focus on themselves. There was no worship going on, none of the appointed festivals God had commanded them to observe…no priority of God! They had forsaken their pursuit and enjoyment of the glory of God, having “abandoned the place where God’s glory was seen” (T.Anyabwile). During these years of neglecting God, the people experienced drought and lack of crops. Until one day God sent a couple of prophets with a fresh word from the Lord! Ezra tells the story of Haggai and Zechariah coming to preach to the people (Ezra 5:1-2). Haggai’s name means “festive” – a living reminder of the neglected festival celebrations and worship of God (Geraty).

Building God’s House, Not Ours

Let's look at God's message to his people, preached by Haggai (found in Haggai chapter 1):
1. Is it time for comfort or obedience? (1:3-4, 9b). “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? …My house…lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house” (4, 9b). God asks “Is it time for your comfort now, or your obedience now?” Is it time for God’s people to live for themselves; for their comfort, their kingdom – while there is unfinished work for the Lord?

How relevant for God’s people in the new covenant of Christ! Is it time for us to have our best life now, while the work remains unfinished – or to lose our lives for the Lord and his mission and have our best life later, with him in heaven? Is it time for us to coast or get to work? Is it time for us to prioritize our families and houses and plans…or God’s family, God’s house and God’s plan?

At the heart, this is a question of PRIORITIES. Putting God first. “It is idolatry to put our agenda over God’s” (T. Anyabwile). Sometimes we don’t think about the exceeding sinfulness of not putting God first; the God who was here before we were born and who will be here long after we are gone; The God who simply IS, whose name is “I AM”; The God from whom we borrow every breath and receive everything we have – on whom our very life is dependent! The God who is worthy in his character of all praise and glory in the universe – how arrogant and sinful for us to prioritize ourselves above him!

• We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. John 9:4

A World With No Idols

"God's goal is a world without idols."  (wait, read that again!)  "GOD'S GOAL IS A WORLD WITHOUT IDOLS.  Therefore, in the end, he will be either the Savior or the Judge of everyone" (ESV Study Bible notes on Isaiah 45:23-25).

God's goal is glorifying himself alone in all the universe - showing off his amazing glory to all of creation, which also brings ultimate joy to the creatures!  Seeing God's glory is the highest joy, and delighting in other things that are not God (idolatry) robs God of glory and robs us of ultimate joy.  So ridding the universe of all idols is God's goal, which we see throughout Scripture. 

This creates a problem for us, because we are all idol worshipers!  Some actually, physically bow down to carved images, but others are idolaters of the heart, worshiping the created rather than the Creator; loving the gift but not the Giver.  Even if we were to be forgiven of our past idolatry, our hearts are idol-factories which continually look for new things to treasure and delight in rather than in God. 

So to achieve this goal of a world without idols God will be, for EVERYONE, either Savior or Judge.  He will either judge the idolater for his sin, ridding the world of idolatry through righteous judgment, OR (praise God!) he will RESCUE the idolater from his sin, ridding the world of idolatry through gracious salvation (in their case Jesus' death on the cross, where he paid the fine for idolatry and bore the wrath of God in the place of sinners will be applied to them through faith!).  So, whether by acting as Judge or as Savior, God will destroy all idolatry.  It will be destroyed in those he judges by pouring out on them the righteous wrath of God for eternity so that the universe sees the glory of God in his wrath, or it will be destroyed in those he saves by pouring out that wrath on Jesus in their place at the cross and setting them free from the power of idolatry so that they worship God alone.  The result is that God alone will be glorified.  Even those he judges for idolatry will ultimately bow the knee to God and confess he is Lord!

Here are all the pieces to this idea in one passage of Scripture:

By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: 'To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.' (this is the world without idols). "Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him (this is the judging of idolaters, which is the immediate context of Isaiah 45).  "In the LORD all the offspring of Israel shall be justified and shall glory" (this is the saving of his covenant people to glory in God alone!)  Isaiah 45:23-25, ESV (my comments in parentheses)

Praise God!  He WILL realize his goal, for "the counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations" (Psalm 33:11).  The earth WILL "be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea" (Habakkuk 2:14)!!  There WILL be a world without idols.  We will be rescued from what hinders our freely delighting in God, and God alone will be glorified.  What a day!!!

Therefore God says,

They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save.  ...there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth!  For I am God, and there is no other.  (Isaiah 45:20b, 21b-22, ESV)

Till the storms pass by

What can we do while we are in the storms of affliction, trouble and suffering?

Psalm 57 was written, we are told, by David "when he fled from Saul, IN THE CAVE" (introduction to the Psalm). Can you picture David hiding in the darkness of a cave, afraid for his life? Saul, jealous and filled with murderous rage toward David, is leading his armed men in pursuit. David is in the storm.

What thoughts would pass through your mind? What emotions? "Thanks a lot, God. I thought Samuel anointed me the next king of Israel?? Is the next king of Israel about to die in a cave?!"

David's heart belongs to the Lord. He is in the cave...praying.
(Jonah was in the fish...praying; Jesus was on the cross...praying.)
David cries, "Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by." (v1)

David clings to God in the storm! Storms usually pull us closer to God, or give unbelievers excuse to run from him.

Next, look where David's trust is anchored:
"I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me" (v2).
David is trusting in God's sovereign plan! Oh, what peace there is in trusting our sovereign God!

Finally, David's thoughts are not self-centered in this prayer. Remember, he's hiding in a cave with an army looking for him! What's on his heart as he cries out to God for help?
"Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
Let your glory be over all the earth!" (vs5, 11).

Twice David takes up this exclamation of praise while the storm is raging in his life. He knows that there is something bigger than being saved from suffering. There is MORE than my needs being met. God's glory is priority number one!!!
Does your heart beat for God's glory to be seen? Does this consume you...even in times when it's not natural to think about it?

So we've learned some important lessons from the David's storm.
1. Pray.
2. Take refuge in God till the storm passes by.
3. Rest in God's sovereignty.
4. Praise God and yearn for his glory to be seen.

Are you hiding in the cave? Are you in the storm?
Here is help!