(June 20, 2024) Dr Jim McClure shares more great insights on the Lord’s Prayer –

In The Lord’s Prayer-Part 1 God’s Dominion posted earlier this month, I wrote that Jesus was teaching His disciples in response to their request, ‘Lord, teach us to pray.’ It is such a short prayer – we can recite it in 30 seconds – but it is also very profound because it covers the foundational principles that should be present in all our praying. So really… it is not a prayer that can be adequately prayed in 30 seconds!

Notice that Jesus did not say, ‘This is what you pray,’ but ‘This is how you pray.’ Obviously, it is not wrong to pray this actual prayer, but Jesus gave it to the disciples to provide some basic prayer principles, not as a strict formula to be followed.

Part 1 above is founded on the first two verses of the prayer, ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ (Matthew 6:9-10). Almost every word in those short sentences is full of meaning and significance and requires our reflection.

And now in Part 2 we shall reflect on Our Dependency, expressed in verses11-13: ‘Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil.’

These three short verses turn our attention from the awesomeness of God and His dominion to a recognition of the fragility of human beings who, whether we admit it or not, live in dependency on God. There is certainly merit in the concept of self-sufficiency which majors on our being able to take care of ourselves and overcome the various challenges that often come our way without needing to depend on others to prop us up. But clearly, from time to time, there are periods in life when we really do need the support and encouragement of others.

However our greatest dependency is on God – even if we fail to acknowledge this. These few verses focus on three of our greatest dependencies.

(i) Provision – ‘Give us this day our daily bread (v11)
Some interpreters suggest that Jesus was using the word ‘bread’ in a spiritual sense as Jesus described Himself as the ‘Bread of life’ three times in John 6. They also point out that at the beginning of His ministry, when Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness and was tested by Satan who told Him to turn the stones into bread, Jesus responded, ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’ (Matthew 4:4).

Jesus was quoting Moses who told the Israelites, who had been provided with manna from God for 40 years, that there was much more to life than the provision of food (Deuteronomy 8:3). That, of course, is absolutely true – although food for many people today, in its many delicious forms, has become a priority focus. There are so many popular cooking shows on television because varieties of food are so ‘important’ to us.

Nevertheless, when Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He included the phrase, ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’  I believe that the word ‘bread’ is used here, first of all to refer to food in general because food is one of our basic needs as human beings and it can include all of our basic needs in life. I believe that the point that Jesus was making is that it is quite appropriate to bring our needs to God, whatever they may be, and to ask Him to help us.

The Lord’s Prayer begins with the reminder that God is our heavenly Father. As such He loves, cares and provides for us. In Genesis 22  we find a magnificent description of God, Yahweh Yireh, which means ‘The Lord will see to it’ or ‘The Lord will provide’ (Genesis 22:14).  That special description of God is highlighting one of His wonderful characteristics… ‘the provider.’  Whatever our basic human needs may be, God can provide for us. That is what Jesus encourages us to remember when we pray to our Father God, ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught the people to have more further confidence in the God who provides. He said, ‘Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?’ (Matthew 6:26). Jesus was declaring that God cares about everything that He has created. Even the apparently insignificant little birds are precious in His sight and He provides for them.

Psalm 50 reminds us that God owns everything! He declares in verses 10-11, ‘… every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine.’  Some years ago there was a very popular Christian song written by John W. Peterson that was based on those words:
He owns the cattle on a thousand hills,
The wealth in every mine;
He owns the rivers and the rocks and rills,
The sun and stars that shine.
Wonderful riches, more than tongue can tell –
He is my Father so they’re mine as well;
He owns the cattle on a thousand hills –
I know that He will care for me.

That song expresses the glorious theme that God created everything, and the whole of creation belongs to Him, including us. God wants from us only what is ours to give, that is, our love, commitment and worship. Psalm 50 is a powerful psalm but the Peterson rendering of it contains one jarring phrase, ‘He is my Father so they’re mine as well.’  In truth, those things that are listed are not ‘mine as well’! They exclusively belong to Almighty God!

But based on a misunderstanding of the generosity of God’s love towards us, some preachers (prosperity preachers particularly) declare that, because we are children of the King of Kings, we should have confidence to ask our Father for more earthly treasures.

I remember squirming some years ago as I sat in a church and listened to a visiting preacher say to the congregation, ‘God wants to give you more than you already have. If you want a better job, stand up. If you want a new car, stand  up. If you want a bigger house, stand up. God wants to give His riches to you. All you have to do is ask Him.’

Now that may sound wonderful but it was not what Jesus taught nor do we find such a promise anywhere in the Bible. Jesus said that we ask God to meet the basic needs that we require each day.

‘Bread’ is not the only basic need that we may bring before our heavenly Father. From time to time we are confronted by issues and challenges that threaten to overwhelm us and we yearn for those burdens and cares to be lifted. The Lord’s Prayer reminds us to bring all our basic needs to God.

• Peter reinforced this advice, ‘Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you’ (1Peter 5:7).
• Paul wrote to the Philippian Christians, ‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, withthanksgiving, present your requests to God’ (Philippians 4:6) and in verse 19, ‘My God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.’

When we pray, ‘Give us this day our daily bread,’ we are asking God to provide us with the resources to meet the demands and challenges which may confront us each day.

The second dependency in the Lord’s Prayer is –
(ii) Pardon –  ‘Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors’ (v12)
Some translations use the word ‘trespasses’ instead of ‘debts.’  Whichever word is used, the emphasis in the verse is on seeking God’s pardon for our sins. In Greek there are five different words that have been translated into English as ‘sin.’ The word that is used in this verse refers to a debt that is owed to someone.

This simple phrase in the Lord’s Prayer has two parts:
(a) Request: God’s Forgiveness
When we pray, ‘Forgive us our debts,’ we are acknowledging that we have done something wrong and that we need to be forgiven by God. That is a humbling acknowledgement and one that most people prefer not to make. However, the uncomfortable truth is that we are all sinners who have incurred debts of various kinds and not just financial ones!

We fail in our decisions, actions, words and thoughts each day. If we have accepted Jesus as our Saviour, we are saved from God’s judgment. But being ‘saved’ is not the same as being ‘perfect.’ As imperfect people we continue to sin in various ways and we continue to need the forgiveness of God for those sins. Each of us needs daily to pray to God our Father, ‘Forgive us our debts.’

Some years ago in a church that I pastored, I advised that the old noticeboard outside the church should be removed and replaced by an eye-catching new one in which messages would be boldly displayed. It was lit up at night and was easy to read by passersby. The first message we displayed stated, ‘This church is for sinners only!’ On the first Sunday after the noticeboard was erected, a regular member of the congregation expressed her annoyance with the message as it implied that she was a sinner!

Well, obviously she was because we all are sinners! God wants us to live in a close relationship with Him and daily we need to ask for His forgiveness so that we can be close to Him.

The problem with the Pharisees in Jesus’ day was that they proudly thought that they could achieve God’s approval by their own efforts. Jesus’ condemnation of them was often harsh because they failed to acknowledge that by their self-righteous, legalistic attitude and behaviour they were erecting a wall between themselves and God. In Luke 18:9-11 we read, ‘To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men – robbers, evildoers, adulterers.”’ 

The Pharisees thought that they were such good and Godly people that they did not need God’s forgiveness. But we all do – regularly!

That is the point of this petition. When we sincerely pray it, we are asking for God’s forgiveness to enable us to live in a close relationship with Him. John reminds us in 1John 1:9, ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.’  What a glorious assurance that is.

(b) Condition: Our Forgiving Others
The prayer continues, ‘Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.’ Notice that in this petition the request to God for pardon and reconciliation is accompanied by a condition. It is not only a request for forgiveness for offending against God but it is also related to our forgiving others who have offended us! The two parts of the petition are joined together. It indicates that the measure of God’s forgiveness of us is directly related to the measure of our forgiveness of others. That is a sobering request indeed!

How easy it is to skip over this conditional aspect when asking for God’s forgiveness. But the implication of Jesus’ words is quite clear – to be forgiven by God we must forgive others. If we withhold forgiving others for any offence they have committed against us, we alienate ourselves from God’s forgiveness! If we are hold onto resentments or harbour grudges and refuse to forgive because we’ve been offended by something that has been said or done against us, we alienate ourselves from God’s forgiveness.

The apparently little innocuous phrase, ‘Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,’ actually contains a challenging condition. A desire for a healthy relationship with God includes a forgiving attitude from us towards others.

As Jesus hung on the cross with nails in His hands and feet, He looked on those who had put Him there and who were sneering at Him, and He prayed, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing’ (Luke 23:34). Jesus was willing to forgive them even before they asked for forgiveness. Yet how petty and unforgiving we can be at times and how much we need to take to heart the significance of this petition in the Lord’s Prayer. Hostility towards others and holding of resentments create stumbling blocks in our relationship with God and the consequences can be substantial!

(iii) Protection – ‘Do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one’ (v13)
There are two parts to this sentence –  
1) Petition: ‘Do not lead us into temptation’
This appears to be a rather strange request to God especially when we compare it with James’ comment, ‘When tempted, no one should say, “I am being tempted by God.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself tempts no one’ (James 1:13). God cannot act is ways that contradict His character!

We usually associate the word ‘temptation’ with a desire to do something that is wrong. But the Greek word that is translated here as ‘temptation’ is better translated as ‘test.’  At the beginning of His ministry Jesus’ commitment to His mission to ‘seek and save the lost’ was sorely tested by Satan. Three times Satan challenged Jesus’ resolve and each time Jesus passed the test! God never tests people to lead them into sin, however, sometimes He allows our faith in Him to be tested that it may be strengthened and there are multiple examples of this in the Bible.

Avoiding temptation is an impossible task but yielding to temptation is an ongoing challenge. Satan uses testing to destroy us but God allows testing to develop our resolve, obedience and commitment to Him. Sometimes the pressures of life and the challenges ahead of us seem overwhelming and it is quite normal to fear them. Before His crucifixion, as He considered the anguish that lay before Him, Jesus prayed God, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’  And again He prayed, ‘My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done’ (Matthew 26:39,42). Jesus’ commitment to the Father’s will surpassed His own feelings.

It is not wrong to pray that we may be delivered from testing situations, however it is more important that we submit to God’s will, keep trusting Him and asking for His strength to take us through our tests. In our humanity it is quite appropriate cry out to God, ‘Do not bring us to hard testing’ (Matthew 6:13GNB).
2) Plea: ‘Deliver us from the evil one’
The ‘evil one’ referred to here is Satan who is opposed to God and also to us. We see his tactics from the very beginning when he schemed and deceived and successfully tripped up Eve and Adam in Eden. And the evidence of his scheming and destructive influence is still clearly evident throughout the world today. He wields his demonic power and corruptive persuasion on us at every level of society. Regrettably, by his cunning ways he can so often manipulate and entrap us.

How much we need to be protected from Satan today. How relevant, therefore, is this plea, ‘Heavenly Father, deliver us from the evil one.’

May this be our constant prayer during these turbulent times! Overall, the Lord’s Prayer is well described in the icon below. It is indeed a…

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Dr Jim McClure, author of several books and Bible studies, offers them free in electronic version in EPUB, Kindle and PDF formats.

Looking for Answers in a Confusing World is particularly recommended. Questions seeking enlightenment on biblical perspectives are welcomed. Link: jbmcclure@gmail.com
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