9 October 2019 - thy name

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Father, hallowed be your name

Is God truly hallowed in us? Is his name held to be holy in our hearts? Are we moved by reverential fear when he enters our thoughts? We should want these to be the case. He is our Father, to whom we cry, "Abba!" We should in fact desire to revere our Father and be delighted to discover just how worthy is reverence he is.

your Kingdom come.

Only if we begin with fear of the LORD, the first stage of wisdom, can we move on to truly asking for his Kingdom to come. This means we ask for the Kingdom not just in the ways that suit our preferences, ways, that would be most convenient for us, but also and especially in the ways in which we ourselves are not open to the Kingdom and need conversion. We ask for the Kingdom to come in our hearts.

Give us each day our daily bread

We turn to God again and again. We aren't laying up an abundance where, once obtained, we no longer need him. We plan to keep coming back to him for every thirst and every need.

and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,

God wants us to be people of forgiveness who forgive just as he first forgives us. We have to let that forgiveness flow through us to others in order to abide in it ourselves. We can't cherish a grudge against Nineveh as does Jonah, nor of anyone.

Jonah was greatly displeased
and became angry that God did not carry out the evil
he threatened against Nineveh.

We often manage to conceal those places where our hearts are hard, where we withhold forgiveness, even from ourselves. But the LORD will not allow them to remain hidden. He will teach us a genuine concern for our neighbors and even our enemies.

“You are concerned over the plant which cost you no labor
and which you did not raise;
it came up in one night and in one night it perished.
And should I not be concerned over Nineveh, the great city,
in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons
who cannot distinguish their right hand from their left,
not to mention the many cattle?”

God will help us learn. He will guide us from the lesser things in which we put greater value to those things truly worthy of our concern. He will take from us our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh (see Ezekiel 36:26).

For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.