Keep the BeatSample

DAY 4: TOO LOUD

Early in my teaching career, I attended a lot of our high school basketball games, so I thought it would be fun to form a Pep Band to play at home games. I reached out to some other teachers and friends, and we quickly put together a small ensemble–trumpets, saxophones, flutes, and a drum kit. I played the trumpet, but not well. I only knew one volume. LOUD. The only way I could play the right notes was to play loudly, so I did. Which is fine when you have the melody, but it’s a problem when the flutes have the melodic line, and the trumpet is only playing whole notes underneath. I blasted those notes and drowned out the melody.

Life has a way of making us live loudly, yet God speaks in a gentle whisper. Prayer helps us to quiet ourselves so that we can commune with the Lord. Entire books have been written about prayer and my intent here is not to provide an exhaustive study of the subject, but instead to share one truth that changed the way that I have prayed. I learned it from the model prayer that Jesus provided,

"Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors.

And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen."

Jesus said that when we address God in prayer, we should begin, “Our Father.” While we’ve become accustomed to this language in our modern Western culture, it would have been shocking to the disciples when they heard it.

As Tyler Stanton writes in his book, Praying Like Fools, Living Like Monks:

The big question in ancient days wasn’t, “Does God exist?” It would be foolish to ask such a question. “Of course God exists! Open your eyes, man! He’s the cylindrical pillar of fire stretching from the desert floor into the night sky and serves as our trail guide!” Instead, the existential question in ancient days was, “Is God knowable?” Because a pillar of fire doesn’t provoke doubt, but neither does it provide intimacy.

When we pray, we talk with a Daddy, not a deity. We talk with a God who is knowable. I used to begin a prayer by addressing God as “Lord” or “Almighty God,” but now I start, “Father in heaven,” to remind myself of this simple truth.

I have five children. My youngest, Darcy, is my only daughter. Like most dads with their daughters, I am totally smitten with her, and I pretty much give her whatever she wants. She has me wrapped around her little finger, and I won’t even deny it. I absolutely delight in her! I have nicknames for her, like Doodle and Pumpkin, and I love listening to her tiny voice when she tells me stories. We snuggle every night before bed, and she shares with me everything that she did during her day. She is not perfect, but she is my beloved daughter, and there is nothing she could do to make me love her more, and there is nothing she could do to make me love her less.

When I prayed, “Almighty God,” I believed that I was addressing a disappointed God, one angry at me for my sinfulness, my unfaithfulness, and my lack of spirited devotion. But praying, “Father in heaven,” I am reminded that He is a God who delights in me, even in my worst moments.

As children, if we did something wrong and we thought our parents were going to be angry and disappointed, we often tried to hide our wrongdoing. But if we believed our parents delighted in us, and understood our capacity to make mistakes, then we would be more likely to go and tell them the truth.

We all face this sin/shame dilemma, and we must decide which way we will run.

We run from the one who is disappointed; we run to the one who is delighted.

In your brokenness, don’t run from God. Run to Him, the Father who delights in you.

Jesus said, “Pray like this: Our Father in heaven.”

Following this example, before we get into God’s power or His holiness, before we petition Him with our needs, or seek His deliverance from evil, we are to first address Him as Father.

The Didache was a guide used by the early Church that predates the Bible. It called for the people to pray the Lord’s prayer three times each day: morning, noon, and night. If you need to jumpstart your prayer life, consider this first step. Pray the Lord’s Prayer and then begin to expand upon each line. Speak to God out of your heart, talking to a Daddy, not just a deity.

REFLECTION

When we pray, we talk with a Daddy, not a deity. We talk with a God who is knowable. We run from the one who is disappointed; we run to the one who is delighted. If you need to jumpstart your prayer life, begin with the Lord’s Prayer each morning and night and let it slowly become the model for how to pray.