Fatherly Fear

"This is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name...'" ~Jesus

This verse has been rolling around in my head for a couple of weeks now. The intimacy of calling Almighty God "my Father" has seemed to cast a shadow over the "hallowed" part for some time. The verses are so familiar that half the time, I just recite them by rote instead of reading it. You know, when you reach those passages that your mind just sort of swallows without chewing or skips through with a happy tune. I get all into calling God my "Daddy" and forget that his name must be hallowed. Yes, he is my Father in heaven but he's also Holy, Almighty, GOD!

Obviously, Jesus knew without a doubt that God was, and is, his father. He was wrapped in the Holy Spirit and spoke and prayed with authority. I find it interesting that when he was dying on the cross, he did not cry out to his father, he cried out to his God. He didn't appeal to the fatherly love of the divine, he cried to the Holy love of the consuming fire he knew intimately as his father. He asks both the Holy Spirit and his Father. "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?," in echo of the agonizing words of David in the Psalms. Jesus felt abandoned and forsaken. He was living Psalms 22 and knew it. Yes I can call God "my Father in heaven" but may I never lose sight of the fact that first, and of utmost importance, is that I fear him as Almighty God. Jesus did.

"Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." ~Jesus