Matthew 6:9-13
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
First, establish you know exactly who it is who you are praying to.
“‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
Our Father in heaven,
Who are you praying to?
Who is God to you?
Do you know God?
What is your relationship with God?
Colossians 1:16 reminds us that our God is the creator of all things visible and invisible. Genesis Chapter 1 Verse 1 tell us that our God is the creator of heaven and earth, verse 3 light, verse 11 plants, verse 14 day and night, verse 20 the living creatures of the water and air, and verse 24 the living creatures of the land.
As the creator of all things, including you, what does the creator mean to you? From the dust of the earth you were made an one day to the dust of this earth you shall return. What then do you owe the creator with the time you have in between?
Exodus 20:1 20 And God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
Our God is a freeing God. Our God enslaves us not to another human being but to all human beings. We are created by our God to be servants to the world. Adam was created not to rule the earth but to take care of it. Adam first named all living things. We name things to develop a relationship with them. I have learned your names because I want to have a relationship with you. You are important.
God knows each and every one of us by our names because our God is a personal God. You are not insignificant.
Despite how awesome and power our God is, our God is also the God of compassion and love. It is highly significant that Jesus asks us to speak to God the Father in the way that he does. As if there is a loving and respectful admiration to one who possesses far more power than you and that you are expected to be obedient to.
Essentially, Jesus is telling us that when you pray, pray as God’s children. Jesus speaks to God the Father in everyday language and with beautiful simplicity recognizing a close intimate relationship.
Jesus prayed to God as if they had an intimate relationship of Father and Son. The word Pater used in the Greek version of the Lord’s prayer is the word a child would used for his father, grandfather or other significant elder. Notice it is not translated as “dad” or “daddy.” There is still an “I am very small and weak” and “you are very big and powerful” connotation to the words.
Our Father, who is in heaven. Not our earthly father but specifically the God who is referred to as Father by Jew, Jesus and Gentile. A Father who is not of this earth. Our Father, who art in heaven. The God of Abraham, Issaac, David, Isaiah and Nathan. The God of the Prophets, Israel, and the God of Jesus Christ. The God that created us, walks with us, talks with us, and saves us. The God that calls us to be more than we think we can be and humbles us to remember that we are not gods ourselves.
Despite the way this phrase may initially sound, do not forget that the ultimate mission of the kingdom of God is heaven on earth. The realm of God while seemingly invisible here on this earth is present. Our God is as near to us as our God is far away from us. The Christian God is omnipotent, all-knowing, omnipresent, everywhere, and good.
Our God, while all-powerful, is also an emotional God. Many times our God weeps for us, gets angry at us, but always, our God loves us.
One of my favorite K-Dramas is called “Doom at Your Service.” It started my obsession with them. In it, the character known as Doom, a Grim Reaper of sorts, he’s not the harbinger of death so much as misfortune follows him everywhere he goes. Things break, people have accidents, a general aura of bad luck circulates around him affecting the people he draws near to. Sometimes this does indeed result in death, but more often the results are much more unexpected.
Doom is an interesting character because he appears different to every person. Some see him as an old man, others young, some think he’s short, others tall, some ugly, some handsome. Sometimes he’s a doctor, a nurse, a lawyer, a police office, a man or a woman, always someone different. Our protagonist however, always sees him exactly the same way, she sees him for who he is. She sees his true face.
I wonder if God is like this in our lives. When we need God the most, God takes on the face of whatever, whoever, we need them to be.
In this particular show, God is also present in human form. God is played by a young woman, one who is terminally ill and has been for her entire life. She explains to Doom several times that she is reborn into a life of pain, torment, and suffering, to repeatedly die for the sins of the world with each generation. One death was not enough to change the entire world but each death she dies changes more. While this theology is a reflection of the Buddhist influence, it does serve to remind me of the presence of God in suffering children and elderly. Things that I often find difficult to comprehend in this world.
The show is narrated in the form of a diary by our protagonist. She repeatedly says some things that are quite profound. The one that stands out the most to me is “Misfortune and happiness often have the same face.” Every time she thought her life was falling apart, whenever something most would see as misfortunate or even completely tragic would occur, she could see that something profound, something that ultimately changed her life for the better also happened that would not have happened had Doom not created a path for it to occur. Misfortune and happiness often have the same face.
We want to live our lives free of misfortune for both ourselves and others. We forget that the two go hand in hand. Only through breaking and loss can God make something new.
How did we get to where we are? Where did this journey away from God begin and how do we work our way back? To get there, you had to experience loss. To get here, something had to break. Something had to change. Your previous path was not going to suffice, misfortune had to occur to get you here.
The answer to Who is God? Is that God is all things. God is happiness and sadness. Victory and defeat. Joy and anger. Celebration and mourning. Misfortune and happiness wear the same face.
How do I know this? Because God is both death and resurrection. Our God has died for each and every generation. Including you and yours. Suffered immeasurably for us.
That is who our God is and that is to whom we pray.
Doom at Your Service | Watch with English Subtitles & More | Viki
Dark-Hope 
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