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THESE verses contain the prayer commonly called the Lord’s Prayer. Few passages of Scripture perhaps are so well known as this. The most benighted Roman Catholic can tell us that there is a prayer called “ Pater Noster.” The most ignorant English child has heard something about ‘‘ Our Father. ’
The importance of the Lord’s Prayer appears in the simple fact, that our Lord Jesus Christ delivered it twice with very slight variations. He who never spake a word without good reason, has thought fit to teach us this prayer upon two distinct occasions. Twice the Lord God wrote the ten commandments on tables of stone. (Deut. ix. 10. x. 4.) Twice the Lord Jesus delivered the Lord’s Prayer.
The occasion of the Lord’s Prayer being deiivered « second time, in the verses before us, is full of interest. It appears that ‘one of the disciples” said, “ Lord, teach us to pray.” The answer to that request was the well-known prayer which we are now considering. Who this “disciple” was we do not know. What he did will be remembered as long as the world stands. Happy arethose who partake of his feelings, and often cry, ‘‘ Lord, teach me to pray.”
The substance of the Lord’s Prayer is a mine of spiritual treasure. To expound it fully in a work like this, is manifestly impossible. The prayer, on which volumes have been written, does not admit of being handled properly in a few pages. For the present it must suffice us to notice its leading divisions, and to mark the leading trains of thought which it should suggest to us for private meditation.
The first division of the Lord’s Prayer respects the God whom we worship. We are taught to approach Him as our Father in heaven,—our Father no doubt as our Creator, but specially as our Father reconciled to us in Christ Jesus,—our Father whose dwelling is “in heaven,” and whom no temple on earth can contain. We then make mention of three great things,—our Father’s name, our Father’s kingdom, and our Father’s will. We are taught to pray that the name of God may be sanctified : “‘ Hallowed be thy name.” In using these words, we do not mean that God’s name admits of degrees of holiness, or that any prayers of ours can make it more holy than it is. But we declare our hearty desire that God’s character, and attributes, and perfections, kingdom that shall stand forever,—and God’s law the rule to which all laws ought to be conformed! The more these things are understood and believed in a land, the happier that land will be. The days when all acknowledge these things will be the “days of heaven upon earth.”
The second division of the Lord’s Prayer respects our
own daily wants. We are taught to make mention of
two things which we need every day. These two things
are, one of them temporal, and the other spiritual. One
of them is “bread.” The other is ‘‘ forgiveness of sins,”
We are taught to ask for bread: ‘‘Give us this day
our daily bread.” Under this word ‘ bread,’ no doubt,
is included everything which our bodies can require. We
acknowledge our entire dependence upon God for life,
and breath, and all things. We ask Him to take charge
of us, and provide for us in all that concerns this world.
It is the prayer of Solomon under another form, ‘‘ Feed
me with food convenient for me.” (Prov. xxx. 8.)
We are taught to ask, in the next place, for forgiveness ;
‘‘ Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every one
that is indebted to us.” In so saying, we confess that we
are fallen, guilty, and corrupt creatures, and in many
things offend daily. We make no excuse for ourselves.
We plead nothing in our own behalf. We simply ask
for the free, full, gracious mercy of our Father in Christ
Jesus. And we accompany the petition by the only profession which the whole Lord’s Prayer contains. We profess that we “ forgive every one that is indebted to us.”
The combined simplicityand richness of thesecond divi sion of the Lord’s Prayercan never be sufficiently admired.
How soon the words are spoken ! And yet how much the
words take in! Daily bread and daily mercy are by far
the first and principal things that mortal man wants. He
is the rich man who possesses them. He is the wise man
who is not ashamed to pray for them every day. The
child of God, no doubt, is fully justified before God, and
all things are working for his good. But it is the life of
true faith to apply daily for fresh supplies of all our wants.
Though the promises are all ours, our Father likes His
children to remind Him of them. Though washed, we
need daily to wash our feet. (John ‘xii. 10.)
The third division of the Lord’s Prayer respects our
daily dangers. We are taught to make mention of two
things which we ought to fear every day, and which we
must expect to meet with as long as we are in this world.
One of these things is “temptation.” The other is “evil.”
We are taught to pray against temptation : ‘Lead us
not into temptation.” We do not mean by this expression
that God is the author of evil, or that He tempts man to
sin. (James i. 13.) But we entreat Him who orders all
things in heaven and earth, and without whom nothing
can happen, so to order the course of our lives that we
may not be tempted above what we can bear. We confess our weakness and readiness to fall. We entreat our Father to preserve us from trials, or else to make a way for us to escape. We ask that our feet may be kept, and that we may not bring discredit on our profession and misery on our souls. ;
We are taught, lastly, to pray against evil : “ Deliver
us from evil.” We include under the word evil, everything
and about us, and near us, and on every side, and that we have no power to deliver ourselves from it. We apply to the strong for strength. We cast ourselves on Him for protection. In short, we ask what our Saviour Himself asked for us, when He said, “‘I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” (John xvii. 15.)
importance it is not a whit inferior to the two other
divisions, which we have already considered. It leaves
man precisely in the position which he ought to occupy.
It puts in his mouth the language of humility. The
most dangerous state in which we can be, is not to
know and feel our spiritual danger.
And now let us use the Lord’s Prayer for the trial of our
own state before God. Its words have probably passed over
our lips thousands of times. But have we really felt it ?
—Dowe really desire its petitions to be granted ?—Is God
really our Father ?—Are we born again, and made His
children by faith in Christ P—Do we care much for His
name and will ?—Do we really wish the kingdom of God
to come?—Do we feel our need of daily temporal mercies,
and of daily pardon of sin? —Do we fear falling into temptation ?—Do we dread evil above all things P—These are
serious questions. They deserve serious consideration.
Let us strive to make the Lord’s Prayer our model
and pattern in all our approaches to God. Let it suggest
to us the sort of things which we should pray for and
LUKE, CHAP. XI. iv pray against. Let it teach us the relative place and
proportion which we should give to each subject in our
prayers. The more we ponder and examine the Lord’s
Prayer, the more instructive and suggestive shall we
find it to be.
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