A number of years ago, Philip Ryken, then pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, wrote this:

I have never seen anyone struck dead during a worship service…  To tell the truth, I am surprised that I haven’t been struck with a thunderbolt during a worship service…  Most of my worship, if not quite all of it, is unworthy of the God who is majestic in his holiness.

Those words sound extreme, but I’m reminded of Isaiah 6, where Isaiah finds himself in the Temple in Jerusalem, awed by the sights and sounds connected with being in God’s presence.  What we can’t miss when reading that chapter is how quickly and completely Isaiah recognizes his own unworthiness before God.  When I think about that, I can’t help but wonder when the last time is that any of us–including myself–came  into worship with that same sense of awe.  If I’m honest, I have to admit that I don’t think I ever have.  And yet Isaiah, one of the greatest men of God of all time, saw the splendor and felt the weight of being before Him in ways that few–if any–of us ever do.

It’s interesting, then, that in Matthew 6, Jesus tells us–unworthy as we are–to approach God confidently and boldly (we can’t miss that from the opening line).  But there is a “twist.”  The first thing Jesus says we should pray for after approaching God is that God’s name be “hallowed.”  What does that mean?

To hallow something (or in this case someone) means to treat it (or him or her) with reverence and holiness.  And who is more worthy of such treatment than the God who is perfectly holy and infinitely majestic–the One True God who is indeed “King of the Universe?”  If we take this first petition of the Lord’s Prayer seriously, whether it’s in the context of public worship or personal prayer, we should never come to God with even a hint of “Here I am, God.  Aren’t you lucky?”  Instead, we should come with the attitude that’s like that of both Isaiah and Dr. Ryken–an attitude of awe and wonder that we are actually welcome in God’s presence, and that God desires time with us, even though we don’t deserve it.  Let’s be clear:  I don’t believe we should come fearfully.  But we should come humbly, thankfully, reflectively and respectfully.  When we honor God in that way, we live out Jesus’ own instructions.  What’s more, we set the stage for fruitful and effective prayer.