Satan delights in profaning the sacred. Treating important, weighty, holy matters as frivolous, trivial, and worthless thrills the devil’s wicked soul. Sacrilege is his continuous pursuit.
As distasteful as it is to consider, the gruesome fact remains: It is possible for a child of God to profane the sanctity of prayer. It is possible to come into the presence of the Sovereign of heaven and earth and bring the spiritual stench of irreverence in with us. How wretched!
Reverence for God and His holiness, majesty, and glory is prioritized, not minimized, in Jesus’ model prayer (cf. v. 9). Prayer is not spiritual consumerism. Jehovah is neither Santa Claus nor a candy dispenser. Therefore, God’s pristine character, His august being, His utter loftiness is to be hallowed. He is to be recognized for His pre-eminence. He is to be sanctified, set apart, enshrined as unique. He is to be revered.
“Do not be rash with your mouth and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth” (Ecclesiastes 5:2).
