Something occurred to me after I started this study. Depending on which version you’re using, the words of the Lord’s Prayer are slightly different. That put me in a bit of quandary. Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea.
If I really wanted to take it word by word, I should probably look up the original Aramaic or at least go by the Greek translation. That would be cool. If I knew Greek or Aramaic, which I don’t. So now we’re back to square one.
So, I’m just going to continue on. As long as you realize, the words may vary slightly, and my goal here is simply to encourage you to keep on praying and to explore this prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray.
IN
“Our Father IN…” (I added the capitals, bolding, and purple!)
Today’s slang use of the word IN means that something is popular and trendy. That’s not how it’s used here. Here it’s a cute little preposition that has a very important object. The object tells us what our Father is in. But that is next week’s word, which brings us back to little IN.
I think it’s interesting that we’re told where God is. He is in something. He isn’t that thing. He isn’t around it and all over it. He is in it. I’ve always been taught that God is omnipresent. Everywhere, all the time. But one could argue that if he is in a particular place, then he is not in another place.
Don’t throw rocks. I’m just thinking.
Maybe Jesus wanted to make it perfectly clear where God happened to be, how far our prayers would reach, and that even though we don’t see him, he does hear us.
That’s pretty significant.
The little word IN was a big reminder that although our understanding is limited, God is very real. He is IN, and he sees us. He listens. He cares. And this world is not all there is. There is more. There is another place. There is…
IN
