What if you really grasped what this actually means? Grasped the implications of it? What if you started to live this out and act accordingly? What would that be like? What would your life be like? Doesn't the rest of the Lord's Prayer show you exactly what your life would be like if you accepted and genuinely lived this opening statement? if you lived this prayer "Our Father which art in heaven"?
Wouldn't you love and respect - hallow - your divine Father's name and nature? Wouldn't you be thrilled to be in His company, His presence, His kingdom? Wouldn't you appreciate and listen to His guidance, yield to, reflect, His all-loving will? And your famished affections would be so fed by His love for you. You would be so cared for, so forgiven (and forgiving), so led by his Love away from empty temptations, delivered from willful mistakes, ignorant mistakes, or even what might seem like fatal mistakes.
And why? Because your Father-Mother, God, is already present: here, right here, where you are. And His will for you is always a blessing, right now.
And how would you be fed, and forgiven, and led, and delivered? By His power: His Christ, your Saviour and by His glory: His Holy Spirit, calling you, comforting, and guiding you - and everyone -right here and right now.
Would you actually ever want to live anywhere apart from perfect Love? Would you ever knowingly choose to move out of your loving divine Father's care? No. And if we think we could, Jesus shows us exactly how to rethink that desire, to instead trust ourselves over to our Father, to turn our yearning, our unspoken heart's desire, our very life over to God through His Prayer - affirming what is actually already true: that divine Love, God, is our Father-Mother right now no matter what else seems like it's going on in our life. That we always have been and always will be His perfect child, inseparable from His warm embrace, held, even now, in His everlasting arms of Love.
This is how "The Message" (a Bible translation done by Eugene Peterson) shows us this in the 91st Psalm (excerpted):
...Our Father which art in heaven - yes!"You who sit down in the High God's presence, spend the night in Shaddai's
shadow, Say this, "God, you're my refuge. I trust in you and I'm safe!"
"That's right - he rescues you from hidden traps, shields you from
deadly hazards. His huge outstretched arms protect you - under them you're
perfectly safe, his arms fend off all harm. ...
"Yes, because God's your refuge, the High God your very own home, Evil can't get through the door."He ordered his angels to guard you wherever you go. If you stumble, they'll
catch you, their job is to keep you from falling. ...
"If you'll hold on to me for dear life," says God, "I'll get you out of any
trouble. I'll give you the best of care if you'll only get to know and trust me.
Call me and I'll answer, be at your side in bad times; I'll rescue you, then
throw you a party. I'll give you a long life, give you a long drink of
salvation!"
2 comments:
Mark, Psalm 91 got me me through college: whenever I was sad, afraid, anxious, I read it and it would help me let go of all fearful, ego-based thoughts I was believing. Reading your interpretation or the Lord's prayer, I'm feeling such a sense of deep abiding peace. I know I'll come back to this post frequently. Thank you.
Aileen, I particularly love the 91st Psalm also so I'm glad to know that you do too. And the Lord's prayer is so rich. As it says in Phillipians 2:5 "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" - and I think that's exactly what happens when we pray the Lord's Prayer, we let in Christ's consciousness of God.
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