Into the innermost sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, only one man was permitted to make his way, and this was limited to only one special day each year. Every Hebrew was privileged to enter into the outer courts of the temple, but only one particular class of men could enter into the inner court or holy place. Its very architecture taught a silent but constant lesson of reverence. Even the temple where Jesus taught and worshipped in Jerusalem was built in such a way as to establish respect for and devotion to the Father. The reverence of the Savior for our Father and the understanding of his love made the whole world hopeful and holy. Living always with an eye single to the glory of God, he urged men everywhere to so speak, and act, and live, that others seeing their good works might glorify their Father in heaven.
It was his supreme hope that our Father’s name and station would be kept beautiful and holy. If our first thought is of ourselves and not of God, we are not praying as Jesus taught. Unless that reverent, prayerful, honorable attitude toward God is uppermost in our hearts, we are not fully prepared to pray. Jesus was careful to place the petition “Hallowed be thy name” at the very forefront of his prayer. We slide over them as though they were only a parenthesis and hasten on to ask for bread and deliverance from our greatest foe.” (Charles Edward Jefferson, Character of Jesus, Salt Lake City: Parliament Publishers, 1968, pp. “Probably no other words in the Lord’s Prayer have been so frequently slurred and overlooked as ‘Hallowed be thy name.’ They lie … ,” as one writer said, “in the valley between the great name of God and the glorious Kingdom for which we are looking and waiting. Reverence and adoration were frequently declared in prayer by the Master and were beautifully expressed in the Sermon on the Mount when he gave this counsel: “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.” ( Matt. He, more than any other in this world’s history, was willing to humble himself, to bow down, and to give honor and glory to the Most High. Furthermore, he acknowledged that the work and the will he came to fulfill was his Father’s, not his own. He prayed constantly and sought faithfully the divine direction of his Father in heaven. Jesus looked up throughout the course of his ministry. We must continually look up and acknowledge God as the giver of every good thing and the source of our salvation. Perhaps what this world needs, as much as anything, is to “look up” as the Psalmist said-to look up in our joys as well as our afflictions, in our abundance as well as in our need. “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.” ( Ps. “Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray. “Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation,” the Psalmist sang. If there is any element in human life on which we have a record of miraculous success and inestimable worth to the human soul, it is prayerful, reverential, devout communication with our Heavenly Father. We should remember the Most High day and night-always-not only at times when all other assistance has failed and we desperately need help. If prayer is only a spasmodic cry at the time of crisis, then it is utterly selfish, and we come to think of God as a repairman or a service agency to help us only in our emergencies. If we let them, they will humble us, soften us, and turn us to respectful prayer.
Perilous moments, great responsibility, deep anxiety, overwhelming grief-these challenges that shake us out of old complacencies and established routines will bring to the surface our native impulses. And yet, skeptical “modern” men have need for prayer. Our modern times seem to suggest that prayerful devotion and reverence for holiness is unreasonable or undesirable, or both. There is now before us a danger that many may pray skim milk and live that not at all. William Drysdale, New York: Appleton, 1887, p. Henry Ward Beecher once said, “It is not well for a man to pray cream and live skim milk.” ( Proverbs From Plymouth Pulpit, ed.
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