Teach us to pray, part 11: Adonai

And He said to them, "When you pray, say: 'Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. 'Give us each day our daily bread. 'And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.'" (Luke 11:2-4 NASB)

Adonai

Adonai is a word that means "Lord". This is a pleural form of the word "adon" which is used to refer to men who are "lords". (Nowhere did I find that the pleural is used because we serve a triune God, but that is my opinion.) Adonai is sometimes used in Scripture as a substitute word for Yahweh, which we will study tomorrow, and occurs in the Old Testament 434 times. It is used frequently in Isaiah, Ezekiel (where it occurs 200 times), and Daniel. 

Adonai is the word used in that beautiful passage in Isaiah 6 in which Isaiah describes seeing God on his throne.

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw also the Lord (Adonai) sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple...

Also I heard the voice of the Lord (Adonai), saying, Whom shall I sent, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

                                                                                                       Isaiah 6: 1,8 NASB  

In this country, the concept of "lord" is foreign to us, but in countries with kings and royalty, it is better understood. A "lord" is defined as "someone having power, authority, or influence; a master or ruler." When we acknowledge God as Lord, we are recognizing that He is the owner of heaven and earth and that He is in charge with all authority and all power. It is no surprise then that Adonai was the word that came to mind when Isaiah saw God seated on His throne, in all His glory and power, surrounded by seraphim calling out "Holy, Holy, Holy". 

If we could, even for a moment, see God as He is, enthroned in heaven, we might understand His lofty position and our meager place in comparison. If we could understand Him as Adonai in the way Isaiah did, we, too, might be compelled to serve without reservation, and we would almost certainly join him in responding, 

"Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, 

and I live among a people of unclean lips; 

      For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of  Hosts." 

                                                               Isaiah 6:5 NASB

I found something heartbreaking in the dictionary when I looked up the meaning of the word "Lord", and I am compelled to mention it. The word "lord" is reportedly used as an exclamation to express surprise, worry, or to make an emphasis. When I read that, I knew it was terrible, but true. We, the people of God, have used His name so carelessly that it has made it into the vernacular as nothing more than a casual word of emphasis. We would do well to remember the commandment "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain," (Exodus 20:7) and to be careful with the way we use His name, for it is to be hallowed.

It is one thing for me to say the words "hallowed be thy name" when I pray. It is another thing altogether for me to say "hallowed be thy name" with the way I live, with my speech, with the way I use that name I supposedly hallow. As the people of God, we need to take care to handle His name with respect and honor, just as He has asked us to do. 

Adonai 

What a beautiful name to describe the One who is owner and authority over everything! Let's be sure we treat Him and His name with the honor due Him. Hallowed be His name.

                                                       

How to Inherit Eternal Life, part 4: Lordship

And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?" And he answered, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE." (Luke 10:25-28 NASB)

The lawyer (expert in Mosaic law) asked Jesus a simple question. "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus asked him what the law said and he responded with two verses that are the essence of the law. "Love God. Love your neighbor." Jesus replied, "Do this and you will live." The love of which the lawyer spoke is the kind of love that will lead us to abundant life in this world and eternal life in the next. This love, however, is a beautiful and all-consuming love, and we will look at the kind of love we should have for the next few days. 

You shall love the Lord Your God

What does it mean to love the Lord Your God? Let's start with the word translated as "Lord." The word here is kyrios and is used to indicate the owner of a thing (or person) or the master. The kyrios has the authority to make all decisions concerning the one owned. The term is used as a title of both respect and reverence. The kyrios is the one in charge and what he says goes. Loving God appropriately begins with understanding who He is and who we are not. Almighty God is the One in charge, not us. We must defer to Him in every decision, trusting His Will for us and our lives. 

Until we understand and submit to God as Master, Owner, Planner, and Decider of every aspect of our lives, we will not love Him as we should. The problem comes when what we want is different from what God wants, doesn't it? If we look at the example of Christ, the Suffering Servant who became the Sin Sacrifice for all mankind, we get a glimpse of the extent to which God went for us. It also gives us a glimpse of the will of God and causes us to fear incredible sacrifice of our own. We dare not hold back from the One who gave everything for us, yet we do, mostly from fear of having to submit our will to His Will. 

I struggle with this, as do we all. This business of submitting to the One who has the authority to make every decision concerning us is difficult. We put our faith in a God we cannot see to direct the circumstances of the life we can see, and how blessed we are when we do this, for it is then that we begin to see the evidence of our Lord at work in our lives. The problem, of course, is that we want to direct our own fate, despite the fact that we do a poor job of it. 

We have a choice to make, right at the start. We can submit to the Master and allow Him to BE our Master, or we can direct our own lives and live in rebellion. We cannot have it both ways. Jeremiah 29:11 promises us that the plans God has for us are good, that they will be for our good and not for evil, and that those plans will give us a future and a hope. When we understand that, when we believe that, it becomes a simple choice to allow the One with good plans to proceed. 

Dear ones, the choice is simple, but it must be made. Will we allow our God to be our Lord, or not? The time to choose is now. Loving God demands it. 

From Master to Lord

Simon answered and said, "Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets." (Luke 5:5 NASB)

It's amazing how fast a heart can change. When Jesus told Simon to head out to the deep water, he was "epistatēs", or Master, to Simon. This is a Greek word for supervisor or overseer, and indicates recognition of some form of authority. One fishing net-full later, Jesus had become "kyrios" or the authority to whom Simon belonged. It is a word used to indicate a sovereign ruler as well as to indicate God Himself. 

Simon initially saw Jesus as a sort of professor. When Jesus entered his life with power, Simon was not only astounded, his eyes were opened to the reality of the Christ. In that instance, he was willing to pledge himself to Jesus as a possession of the King. 

To fully understand the significance of this, remember that Simon was a successful businessman. He was not in desperate straits looking for a rescue. He was certainly not looking for a new level of authority. He was accustomed to being the authority, and on his boat, his word was law. That is, until Jesus boarded the boat. When Jesus stepped on board, everything began to change, and when Simon obeyed in one little area, the action really began. 

That's what Jesus wants to do in all our lives. He wants to be more than a wise teacher. he wants to be the authority that directs, guides, leads. When we begin to obey, the action begins and the fun really starts! 

Today, pray for those first small steps of obedience that lead the way to a heart submitted and transformed by our Lord. Let your obedience be the example that shows the way.