In my previous post, I wrote that the term Abba, which Jesus often used in reference to his Heavenly Father, is more than just “Daddy.”  I also suggested that, while the statements in the Lord’s Prayer are simple, they are not simplistic, and that they have a depth we can easily miss.  All of that comes together in the second two words in the prayer:  in heaven.

In his own observations on the Lord’s Prayer, William Barclay wrote that, “We must never use the word Father in regard to God cheaply, easily, and sentimentally…  This God, whom we can call Father, is the God whom we must still approach with reverence and adoration, awe and wonder.”  Barclay’s words remind me of Isaiah 42:8, where God says, “I am the Lord; that is my name!  I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.”

When Jesus began the Lord’s Prayer with, “Our Father in heaven,” he hit on a tension that actually makes prayer worthwhile:  that God is intimately interested and involved in the world he created (theologians call this God’s “immanence”), but that He is also entirely distinct, different, and separate from that world (theologians refer to that as God’s “transcendence.”)  There are many ways God is absolutely different and distinct from us, but here are just a few:

  • God is the Creator–we are created.
  • God is sovereign–we are not.
  • God is both eternal and all-knowing–we are not.
  • God is unchanging–we are not.
  • God is perfect–we are not.

God is our Father, but He is not like us, and that is a good thing.  If God were not different from us in these and many other ways, prayer would be pointless.  His immanence (seen in the words Our Father) shows that he cares.  His transcendence (seen in the words in heaven), means he can actually do things we cannot do, in ways we cannot do them, according to wisdom we do not possess.  Therefore, we can and should pray with confidence–confidence that nothing in our lives is beyond his concern, and confidence that nothing we bring to him is beyond his ability to address.