HALLOWED BE THY NAME

This petition is literally, “Let your name be sanctified,” or, “Let your name be held as holy.” I keep in mind that a name meant far more in biblical times than it does now; especially when it came to the name of God. The name of God stands for all that he is; all his attributes and characteristics. When God responded to Moses’ request for his name he simply said, “I AM.” God’s name is who and what he is.

When I pray, “Hallowed be Thy name,” I ask God to do what he has already said he will do. I am asking God to make his name huge all over the world. I am pleading with him to magnify his name in the eyes of everyone. I am begging him to glorify himself and make his name great. God told the prophets that this is exactly what he intends to do:

“For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this.

How can I let myself be defamed?

I will not yield my glory to another.”

Isaiah 48:11

"Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.’” Ezekiel 36:22, 23

When I pray, “Hallowed be Thy name,” my heart cries out to God, “O LORD, your name is not held to be holy in my world, in my culture, or in my nation. Your name is demeaned. Your power and sovereignty is made small even by those who profess to be your people. People sit in judgment of you. They say you are unjust. They claim you are capricious. They say you are dependent on the wills of men. O LORD, rise up and make your name holy! Shake yourself, O LORD, show the holiness of your name and do not yield your glory to another!”

I am reminded Shakespeare’s “Henry V.” Following the battle of Agincourt the reports of the dead and wounded are brought to Henry and there are only a few English names on the list. He says,

“Come, go we in procession to the village.

And be it death proclaimed through our host

To boast of this or take the praise from God

Which is his only”

And then,

“Do we all holy rites;

Let there be sung 'Non nobis' and 'Te Deum;'”

The “Non nobis” is Psalm 115:1, “Non nobis Domine non nobis sed nomini tuo da gloriam.”

“Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to thy name give glory.”