In
this manner, therefore, pray:
Our
Father Who is in heaven,
Hallowed
be Your name. (Matthew 6: 9)
The word hallowed means sanctified,
set apart as special, holy. Actually
hallowed means to sanctify, to set
apart as special, to mark as holy. It’s
a subtle but important grammatical difference. Grammatically speaking, the word
translated hallowed is a verb of the
passive voice in the imperative mood.
All that mumbo-jumbo means that “Hallowed
be Your name” is a command, not a description. Jesus wasn’t just saying that the name of God
IS holy; He was also saying that it is our job to treat God’s name as holy and
to make God’s name seem holy to others.
The opposite of the word hallow is profane. So the opposite of
hallowing God’s name is to use it as a profanity, a curse, an epithet, or an
expression of perversion or filthiness.
You
shall not profane My holy name, but I WILL BE HALLOWED among the children of
Israel. I am the Lord who
sanctifies you. (Leviticus 22: 32)
O.K., but how? How exactly do we hallow the name of God our Father?
The answer involves Moses and a wet
rock.
The books Exodus, Numbers,
Leviticus, & Deuteronomy all record Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness. For 40 years they walked in circles. 40 years of “Hey! Didn’t we already pass this rock?”
For example, Exodus 17 and Number 15
records two separate incidents involving a rock at the same spot, Meribah, in the desert of Zin.
Both passage begin with the children of Israel running out of water in
the desert and threatening to revolt against Moses and traipse back to Egypt (“cuz
Massuh gave us plenty water”).
The first time, God told Moses to grab his staff, get all the leaders
together, and approach the big rock at Meribah. Behold,
I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the
rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink. Exodus
17: 6)
Moses did that, exactly the way God told Him to, and it was all
good. Verse 7 says that this miracle was
God’s answer to the people’s question, “Is
the Lord [really] among us or not?”
In the Exodus 17 event, Moses focused the attention on God. From the
leaders to the last, everybody in Israel saw that it was God in His glory that
opened the rock and gave water. Moses
was God’s instrument like the staff was Moses’ instrument. God was exalted. God was HALLOWED.
But then, in Numbers 20, the children of Israel are making another loop,
passing by the same spot, spitting the same threats and complaints. God tells Moses: “Take
the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak
to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water...” (Number 20:
8)
Moses gets his staff, gets his brother Aaron, calls the people together
again in front of the Meribah rock and he
said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this
rock?” Then Moses lifted his hand
and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly (Numbers
20: 10, 11)
Moses didn’t mention God at all when he stood in front of the rock in
Numbers 20. Moses talked about what HE &
HIS brother were able to do. In Numbers
20, God told Moses to SPEAK to the rock, but Moses HIT the rock--- twice. After all, Moses had done this before. He knew how to get that rock to give up its
water. Hitting the rock was the proven
method, but it wasn’t the obedient method.
It wasn’t the method God had
chosen for that moment to bring Him glory.
The people got water. It took 2
tries, but the people did get their water.
But God didn’t get the glory. God
was not made the center of the people’s attention. Moses acted as the bringer of water not as
the servant of the One who brings water.
Moses exalted himself and his brother in ministry. Moses didn’t hallow God. He hallowed himself.
Moses and Aaron had successfully prayed for freedom from Egypt. Moses and Aaron had successfully prayed for
deliverance from enemy after enemy in the wilderness. Moses and Aaron fervently and effectually prayed
for water.
But they didn’t hallow God before the people.
We hallow the name of God when we speak it with reverence. We hallow the name of God when we refuse to
use it as a profanity or punctuation mark.
But the most important way that we hallow (or profane) the name of God
has nothing to do with grammar. It’s the
way we respond to the promise of water from a rock.
When God does (or gives us the power to do) something awesome---like turn
a desert rock into a spigot abundant enough to quench the thirst of an entire
nation------ we can either use the opportunity to focus everyone’s attention on
God or we can use the opportunity to focus everyone’s attention on ourselves. We can either remember that our gifts come
down from the Father and so our actions are subordinate to His authority. Or, we can act like we’re the ones in charge,
like we can make stones gush.
The name of God is hallowed in our conversations and in our actions. Or not.
Our gifts come in God’s name. The
opportunities to receive and to achieve awesome things come in God’s name. When we receive those blessings but we set
our name in bigger letters than God’s then we make it look like we’re big and
God is little. And some people watching
us will think that is the way it is.
For
“the name of God is blasphemed
among the Gentiles because of you,”
as it is written. (Romans 2: 24)
And that’s an unacceptable situation. To correct it, God will make an example of
us, His beloved servants.
God told Moses and Aaron: Because
you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel,
therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given
them.
Though their prayers were answered in an awesome way, their greatest
blessing was denied. The ultimate reward
for their labors, the fulfillment of their destiny----- wouldn’t happen.
This second incident at the wet rock was the reason Moses and Aaron died without
entering the Promised Land.
We are children of God, but we are not God Himself. We are the beloved sons and daughters of the
Father; but we are not THE Father. When we
understand our authority and power, we can request and receive some awesome things;
but our blessing come with the condition that we give credit to Whom credit is
due. It is imperative (Catch the
reference back to the introductory grammar bit?)----- imperative that we hallow
the name of God.
If we don’t, then God will do it Himself.
For
from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great
among the Gentiles; In every place incense shall be offered to My name, And a
pure offering; For My name shall be great among the nations,” Says the Lord of
hosts. (Malachi 1: 11)
Numbers 20: 13 says that when God put Moses in check then the people
understood. Then Moses and Aaron gave
God the credit He deserved. Then He was hallowed among them.
So when you pray, already have your mind settled to praise God and not
yourself for t the blessing when it happens.
As you exercise your gifts don’t let cockiness over your past successes override
awareness of how God wants you to move in this moment.
And when you receive the answer to your prayer remember to let folks know
that God did it. Let folks know that you
ask, you receive, but God provides.
And in this manner,
therefore, pray:
Our
Father Who is in heaven,
Hallowed
be Your name.
---Anderson T. Graves
II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for
education, ministry, and rural leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor
of
Hall Memorial CME
Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the
Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization
(SAYNO) and director of rural
leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (
NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
If this message helps or touches you,
please help support this ministry. Send a donation of any amount by check or
money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116
