Letting God be God

Matthew 6:9-10

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone (Vol. 1)

[T]his God is not a man-made idol. He is the living God, who dwells in “heaven,” and longs to see his sovereign and saving rule come to birth on “earth.” This is, in fact, a prayer for the kingdom of God to become fully present: not for God’s people to be snatched away from earth to heaven, but for the glory and beauty of heaven to be turned into [an] earthly reality as well. When that is done, God’s name—his character, his reputation, his very presence—will be held in high honour everywhere. The first half of the prayer is thus all about God. Prayer that doesn’t start there is always in danger of concentrating on ourselves, and very soon it stops being prayer altogether and collapses into the random thoughts, fears and longings of our own minds (59).

A. Orendorff

Prayer is not about getting God to give us life on our terms, nor is it merely about living life on life’s terms. Rather, prayer is about the reckless and self-abandoning work of living life on God’s terms. Prayer, as Eugene Peterson points out, is dangerous work. Prayer goes about the humbling task of asking God to be God, of allowing His name to be honored, of letting His will be done, of seeing His kingdom come. What we often forget is that all of these pious requests carry with them the unavoidable consequences that if God is God, then you and I don’t get to be, that if God’s name is honored, then ours might be neglected, that if God’s will is done, then ours might be overlooked, that if God’s kingdom comes, then ours might just sit on the shelf.

This, Jesus says, is prayer. This is real prayer: making God—his name, will and kingdom—the center of our thoughts and lives. And though this is difficult and counter-intuitive work, it is the only real work worth doing. For it is only as we experience the holiness of God’s name, that we are relinquished from the endless task of making a name for ourselves. It is only as we submit to God’s sovereign will that are we released from the bondage of our relentless will. It is only as God’s kingdom comes, that our own private monarchies are overthrown and liberated. It is only when God is God, that we can finally rest as his children.