Fifty-Seven Words That Change The World: A Journey Through The Lord's Prayer

by Darrell W. Johnson

Later on Moses cries out, “Show me your glory!” “Let me see you in all your glory.” God responds, “You cannot see my face,” at least not yet, but “I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence.” So Moses hides in the cleft of a rock. And God passes by, and says, “Yahweh, Yahweh God, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness” (Exod 34:6-7). Pray the revelation back: “Father, show yourself in my work-place as compassionate and gracious; enhance your reputation in my office as slow to anger and abounding in mercy.” At the burning bush God says to Moses, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out . . . and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them” (Exod 3:7-8). Pray the revelation back: “Father, manifest yourself in our time as the God who sees our suffering, who hears our cries, who feels our pain; enhance your name as the God who therefore comes down.” He does, and has, come down, in the incarnation. In Jesus of Nazareth, God became (and remains) one of us. Jesus’ name in Hebrew is Joshua, or Y’shua. It means “Yahweh saves,” or “Yahweh to the rescue.” In every word Jesus speaks, in every deed Jesus does, the nature and character of the saving God is being revealed. Pray the events of Jesus’ life back to God: “You welcomed outcasts, you healed the sick, you reconciled the estranged. O Father, make real all of this now in our century as you did in the first...