Hallowed Be Thy Name
“And he (Jesus) said to them, ‘When you pray, say:
’Father, hallowed be your name...”
As we progress through the month of January with an emphasis on prayer, I recognize my own insufficiency and shortcoming when it comes to my own prayer life and so with that, I have decided that I would like to put forth a valiant effort to make prayer a more central tenant in my walk with Christ this year.
In reflecting on this aspect of my faith I was recently convicted by a sermon I listened to where the focus was on the depth and magnitude of the name of God. As I wrestled with this, I became overwhelmed by the weightiness of God’s name in respect to who He is regarding character. The scriptures are full of references to the many names of God and each one is essentially a revelation into the attributes of his character. Some examples are:
ELOHIM [el-oh-heem]: God “Creator, Mighty and Strong” (Genesis 17:7; Jeremiah 31:33)
ADONAI [ˌædɒˈnaɪ; ah-daw-nahy]: “Lord” (Genesis 15:2; Judges 6:15)
YHWH / YAHWEH / JEHOVAH [yah-way / ji-hoh-veh]: “LORD” (Deuteronomy 6:4; Daniel 9:14)
YAHWEH-RAPHA [yah-way-raw-faw]: "The Lord Who Heals" (Exodus 15:26)
YAHWEH-JIREH [yah-way-ji-reh]: "The Lord Will Provide" (Genesis 22:14)
YAHWEH-M'KADDESH [yah-way-meh-kad-esh]: "The Lord Who Sanctifies, Makes Holy" (Leviticus 20:8; Ezekiel 37:28)
YAHWEH-TSIDKENU [yah-way-tzid-kay-noo]: "The Lord Our Righteousness” (Jeremiah 33:16)
YAHWEH-ROHI [yah-way-roh-hee]: "The Lord Our Shepherd" (Psalm 23:1)
EL-OLAM [el-oh-lahm]: "Everlasting God" (Psalm 90:1-3)
Furthermore, in Exodus 3:13-15 when God speaks to Moses in the burning bush, Moses questions how his message to the Israelites will be received with him proclaiming to be the spokesperson for God, God commands Moses to tell them “I AM WHO I AM.” What does this mean, what an odd phrase? It means that God is self-existent, God is self-sufficient, God is sovereign over everything, God depends on no one, He needs no one, and He needs nothing. That’s hard for the human mind to comprehend, but it should also be very humbling and drive us to be humbly reverent of who God is.
There are several more names for God, but as we reflect on these how often do we sit under the weight of God’s AWESOMENESS? The weight of the God of all creation, the God who sustains all of existence every moment of every day, throughout all of time, and in every detail from beginning to end. Do we ever stop to think about the God who struck Uzzah down when he reached out to stop the Ark from being jostled (2 Samuel 6:6-7)? The God who struck down Ananias and Sapphira for lying and testing the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-11). Or the God who saved the Israelites, over and over. The God who spared Adam and Eve despite having caused all of creation to plummet into chaos for all created time? The stories of God’s wrath and God’s mercy are endless.
When we reflect on the works of the Lord throughout all of scripture, we begin to recognize that we are not dealing with your average neighbor. We are dealing with the HOLY, HOLY, HOLY God who has every right to remove the very breath in our lungs in a split second should He choose, without question. Now I don’t point out these things to scare anyone or to make God look mean, but instead to point out the love, grace, mercy, and patience God relentlessly shows day after day and year after year when dealing with sinful and rebellious people.
“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. ”
When reflecting on the things above do we ever think how we might take the Lord’s name in vain when we disrespect Him by diminishing His character through our speech and actions? It’s easy to see this passage and think, “well…that only refers to saying, “Oh my God” flippantly.” I would argue that we take God’s name in vain when we distort, misrepresent, or flat out deny any aspects of His truth as He intends as written in the scriptures. We can take God’s name in vain when we don’t treat Him as the Holy God that He is. The God who creates, the God who judges righteously, the God who redeems, the God who will make all things right in the end.
I think this reality extends into another thing we see in modern contemporary Christianity today and that is that we hear people say there is power in the “name” of Jesus. There is even a song about that very phrase. I can’t find that in scripture. The Hebrew word for Jesus is “Yeshua” which translates into English as “Joshua.” Does that mean there is power in my name too? In the famous words of Paul “May it never be!” The power is in the person of Christ, not in the willful pronouncement of His name.
In the time of Jesus’ life on earth there were many others with the same name, which is why they would say Jesus of Nazareth to identify which one they were referring to. I think that using the name of Jesus carelessly tacked onto the beginning or end of statements falls into the same category of taking God’s name in vain. I will never deny the power of Christ in His very person, but the name in and of itself has no power, it is an identifier of the person.
It’s especially more dangerous when we are tempted to use the name of Jesus as a means of getting what our heart desires. A personal genie of sorts. When we pray in Jesus’ name properly, we are affirming the power and work of His very character, His person as revealed to us in the scriptures. When considering that, we should be moved in the Spirit of God to have a deep awe and reverence for how we use His name when we pray, or when we talk about Him. This is also especially true when interpreting and teaching scripture. To knowingly, ignorantly, or carelessly distort or misrepresent the scriptures and/or God’s character is a complete disrespect to God.
Coming back to Luke 11:2 when Jesus says, “Hallowed be Your name,” He is reminding us to be humbly and reverently mindful of God’s holiness and to fully respect that holiness. This phrase preserves God’s reputation and completely encompasses all aspects of the attributes describing who God is.
So, as we work through this month with a focused intent on prayer, and even throughout the remainder of the year, may we all make the commitment to venerate the name of God at the highest levels of respect. May we not view His name as a series of letters to be carelessly thrown around like any other name, but instead only reverently and respectfully use the name of God in a manner consistent with upholding His true character and purposes.
“Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say:
’Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread,
4 and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.’”
