Be Still And Know

Matthew 6:9 So begins the Lord’s Prayer. I find everything about this prayer interesting. First of all, I find it surprising how short it is! When I hear people praying, they often speak for a good few minutes. I’m not criticising that, but the prayer Jesus gave to his disciples is all over in about 30 seconds. I also find it interesting that Jesus only gave his disciples one prayer. I have a number of books on prayer on my shelves and I would have thought that Jesus might have come up with a range of prayers that could be prayed at different times. But he didn’t. That tells me that this prayer is incredibly important, and we would do well to use it as a model that shapes and inspires all our prayers. The prayer begins by addressing God as Father. That was a very significant title to use because it emphasises the fact that Christian faith is all about relationship. We come in our prayers not to a remote celestial being but to someone who looks at us as his children. Human fathers vary in quality and s