“It is not prayer—
This clamor of our eager wants
That fills the air
With wearying, selfish plaints.
“It is true prayer
To seek the Giver more than gift;
God’s life to share,
And love—for this our cry to lift.”
The order of the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer is not accidental, for it was Jesus who said, “After this manner pray ye.” We should notice, therefore, what we are to put first when we come to God. It is not a request for any thing for ourself. Important and pressing as our personal needs may be, we are to set them all aside, while we ask first for the hallowing of God’s name. In the opening words of the prayer we are taught not to pray to God for ourself alone, but always to bring others with us — “Our Father.” Here we learn further that God himself must be put first. As the evening star is the brightest star in the heavens, so among all the petitions this shines with the most brilliant luster, “Hallowed be thy name.”
Yet if we were making a form of prayer we should probably not have anything like this in it. Prayer, we would likely say, is asking God for things that we need or that we think we need. It is pleading with God for favors, for help to get on with our ambitions, for prosperity, for freedom from trouble and trial. For our friends and neighbors, so far as we put them into our prayers at all, we usually ask earthly good things. For the members of our own household, for whom we probably pray at times, if we really ever pray, we are apt to solicit things that will advance them socially or in their work or business. For ourselves, most of us think of prayer only as a way to make life easier, to get what we want, to add to our earthly comforts, to get rid of inconveniences, to escape trial.
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