Whiter Than Snow - Week 19

Let me be perfectly clear about this chapter of our study. I had a very difficult time with this. I disagree with the author on many things, but I just can’t seem to get on the same page he is with this chapter. I’ll share what I see and if you disagree with me, I would love to hear about it.


Ps 51:4 Against You, You only, have I sinned and done that which is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified in Your sentence and faultless in your judgment.

Matt 6:9-13 Pray, therefore, like this: Our Father Who is in heaven, hallowed (kept holy) 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 also have forgiven (left, remitted, and let go of the debts, and have given up resentment against) our debtors. And lead (bring) us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. {For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.}

This week the author looks at the Lord’s Prayer and for me, he sees something I don’t. He makes the comment this can’t be answered without the tearing down and rebuilding of many things in our lives. He is looking at this prayer as the end all prayer in the Bible. He made the comment “Had David prayed and lived this prayer, Psalm 51 wouldn’t be in the Bible.” Well that’s true. Had David done a number of things in Proverbs, Psalm 51 wouldn’t be in the Bible either. I guess what I am saying is I don’t see the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6 in the same light as the author. I may be completely off base here, but let me look at this prayer from a different perspective.

I think we need to look at this section of scripture as a piece of a larger unit of teaching. Matthew 5 places Jesus on the side of a mountain teaching the multitudes. Chapter 5, 6, 7 are all part of that same teaching of which the Lord’s Prayer is a small part. He talks about many things but he has a couple of theme’s he is putting out for the crowds. I want to look at those themes for a moment.

The first theme is an overview of the type of person God blesses. We call this the “sermon on the mount” and it is the first thing he discusses in Matthew 5. I think this shows people the target they are shooting for. This is the type of person you are to be if you want God to bless you. Jesus is simply setting a rather high standard for behavior.

The second theme is a rather in depth look at what types of things this person will have to do to actually BE the type of person Jesus described in the “sermon on the mount”. This is actually a “to-do” list describing such things as anger, adultery, divorce, vows, revenge, giving to the poor and other duties.

The Lord’s Prayer seems to me to be a request for God to bring to pass the conditions needed to enable us to meet God’s standard.

1. Bring about conditions where God’s name will be honored.

2. Bring about conditions where things work on earth as they do in heaven.

3. Bring about conditions where our daily needs are met continuously.

4. Bring about conditions where forgiveness reigns.

5. Bring about conditions where satan’s influence is minimized.

After the prayer, He goes into more detail about the things we need to do to operate effectively according to God’s will. Don’t be fearful, don’t condemn others, and be persistent in prayer.

He finishes chapter 7 with encouragement on how to build a solid, Godly foundation for your life.

This is my understanding of Matthew 5-7. So when the author begins talking about how badly this prayer will interrupt his carefully constructed life, I simply don’t see it this way. He wants to concentrate on a very narrow aspect of this prayer and (in my opinion) head down a rabbit trail of negativity.