Rudy Ross and I conclude our study of the minor prophet Zechariah on YouTube today. In that study, Rudy explains the importance of the Festival of Booths. It is an important study, and I encourage you to listen to it on the Bob Spradling YouTube channel.
My blog article discusses what we do when we wake up at 3:00 in the morning and can’t go back to sleep. My answer is, if I can’t go back to sleep, I know it’s praying time.
I think about the Lord’s Prayer many times every day while I am praying or thinking about situations in the world. The other night at 3 o’clock, I was awake and praying the Lord’s Prayer multiple times.
Below are some thoughts that I derived from that prayer, which I think may be helpful for you.
First, take a moment and prayerfully read through the greatest prayer of all time, the Lord’s Prayer.
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be revered as holy.
May your kingdom come.
May your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one. Matthew 6.9-13 NRSV
You may understand the Lord’s Prayer to be a little different from the one I have printed in my article. Mine comes from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible.
What you will notice is that very often we focus on the last petitions of the prayer. We need daily bread, forgiveness, and deliverance from evil.
I have found that the things keeping us awake at night, at 3:00 in the morning, are basic human needs, concerns and worries about events in our lives, broken relationships, the need for forgiveness, or the problem of evil in the world.
Jesus told us not to worry about our life (Matthew 6.25-34), but how often have the worries and anxieties about life kept us awake? Maybe even one of the things that kept us awake was just trying to go back to sleep.
Right after Jesus taught his disciples the Lord’s Prayer, he further emphasized the need for forgiveness. How often have we failed to follow Paul’s admonition to the Ephesians and not forgiven someone?
“Do not let the sun go down on your anger” (Ephesians 4.26).
Then, at 3:00 in the morning, we wrestle with the issue of forgiveness.
Temptation and evil play significant roles in our lives. Whenever I fail to overcome temptation and commit a sin, it frequently disrupts my sleep.
Similarly, concern over the presence of evil in the world can also affect my rest. The numerous global conflicts and problems are often the cause of restless nights.
The Order of the Lord’s Prayer
I must confess that I would have preferred to fall asleep the other night when I was awake at 3:00 in the morning. However, God had a truth I believe He wanted me to receive.
When we skip the first parts of the Lord’s Prayer and go immediately to our needs, we miss God’s intent.
As Rudy and I have studied the prophets, one thing has become very clear to me. When we base our relationship with God on our needs, He becomes the means to solving our problems rather than the goal of the One we are pursuing.
Jesus puts the issue in the proper order. We begin with our relationship with God, and then and only then can we move to our needs.
When Israel focused on their needs, they either turned God into an idol or turned to substitutes for God (Canaanite idols). They believed that these substitutes would give them what they wanted or felt they needed.
Jesus began with a focus on the character of God. He declared that God is our Father. This is a distinctive part of His nature. No one loves us more than God.
Thus, we can rest assured in His care at 3:00 in the morning or any other time of day.
God’s name refers to His character. He wants us to see His character for what it is.
When we see His character as righteous and dependable, full of integrity and love, then we will be very willing to let Him be the King of our lives and to fully follow His will.
When Jesus discussed the issues that typically keep us awake at night, He directed our focus toward prioritizing what is most important.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6.33).
Hezekiah was the king of Israel, and he certainly had a problem that would keep someone up late at night. A large army of the superpower, Assyria, was knocking at the gate, seeking to overthrow his country.
As you read through his prayer, pay attention to the fact that his main concern was God’s reputation or His name in all the earth. He wanted God to have first place in the world more than anything else.
“O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.
Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.
“So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord” (Isaiah 37.16-17, 20).
When we find ourselves awake, wrestling with a problem, the question arises: Can we remain in the Lord’s presence long enough during prayer to grasp the most important issue?
Indeed, God is eager to listen to our worries regarding our needs, relationships, and the issue of evil.
However, He also desires for us to recognize Him as our Father—a loving and nurturing Heavenly Father—and to acknowledge His kingship over our lives.
Real Voices 