God's NAME Is A Sacred Four-Letter Word

Last week I began a series of meditations upon prayer, especially The Prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray. The Prayer he gave them is known by millions around the world as the LORD's Prayer. So far we've pondered what it means to call upon Our Father in the heavens (Matt. 6:9). We continue our prayers by asking that our Father's name be hallowed (Luke 11:2).

I've often led my readers to ponder the Name of God, the Name above all names, shared by all three persons of the Holy Trinity, the name we have translated as I AM. This is the Name God first revealed to Moses when He sent Moses to stand before Pharaoh in ancient Egypt.

Then Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his Name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" God also said to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is my Name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. - Exod 3:13-15 ESV

This ancient believers in Old Testament times would not even pronounce The Name, because they held it so sacred.   The four-letter Name looks like this in Hebrew.

Believers feared to offend God in some way or to leave the impression they held some other god before Him (Exodus 20:3). Thus, to avoid speaking this sacred Name in anything less than reverence, fear and deepest awe, they would instead speak their name for LORD, pronounced as Adonai. Even that Name was used only in prayer. Elsewhere the pious believer would speak only of The Name. In our English Bibles translators usually indicate the presence of The Name in Hebrew by writing LORD. 

Now our LORD Jesus, who shares The Name with the Father (Rom. 10:9), teaches also us to hold the Father's Name in deepest reverence. Surely we too must hold this God in the same deep awe as did believers in the days of the Old Covenant. By Him all things were made. In Him all things hold together. 

Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: "I am the LORD, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens (Shamayim), who spread out the earth by myself, - Isa 44:24 ESV

Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever; ... to him who by understanding made the heavens, for his steadfast love endures forever; - Psa 136:3, 5 ESV 

 And yet our Father has chosen us to be His children and invites us to draw near to Him as dear children draw near to their earthly fathers, completely unafraid. More next time on how to hold God's Name holy and yet come to Him as our Papa in childish delight and confidence.