The Closet
The Lord’s Prayer, Matthew 6:9-13, sometimes called the “Our Father,” is an outline of how and what we should pray for. (We talk with dangling participles so why not print it that way.)
The prayer consists of only five short verses. It is a request to God to give us a clean and loving attitude toward our fellow man. When finished, we leave the closet!
What do you mean “the closet” and when did we get there?
Let’s look at the “preamble” to the prayer, the verses and words leading to the prayer. It is found in Matthew 6:5-9, and is actually one more verse and nearly twice as many words as the prayer itself. Getting ready to pray is as important as the prayer itself, at least this is what God seems to be saying.
The order or manner of prayer seems to be in three parts. The preamble, #1, tells us where, how and what to pray, not “as hypocrites” with an audience but in seclusion, in a “closet.”
2 is a directive to reveal what is on your heart. Standard prayers may bring one into a mode of prayer, but “vain repetitions” are just that, vain or useless when not heartfelt.
3), as is covered in the prayer itself, is an express concern for others not self.
These are really quite self-explanatory, though the use of #2 is a standard for some denominations, and #3 sometimes gets confused with what we want for “me” as opposed to our dealings with others as the prayer states. And these can be expanded more, but at another time. For now we are just looking at the “closet” and now we are there. But what is meant by this?
“Closet,” when the text was penned, could be the exact same as the definition today, a small usually unlit place used for storage. But it could mean small or large rooms for other concerns. The more eloquent might use the alternate “chamber.” This could be acceptable as long as don’t expand it past an area where one retires for solitude as opposed to a spacious area filled with desks, shelves, chairs and the like found in a business office. We have to stay on point, so we stick with a small area of purpose.
God, that is Jesus Christ, is saying “Go to a place where there are no distractions, not for people to see or hear your actions, but to a place where you might be alone with God the Father.” Jesus did this on many occasions, as an example, Matthew 26:39. So let’s really understand the “closet” as used by Jesus.
A closet is a small area which may have a physical door to close out “the rest of the world” and keep that which is inside orderly, secure, clean and protected. Some folks have an actual place such as this, like a chapel.
Others just need to close their eyes which closes out the world even though others are around. In either case, we now see the scenario of Jesus’ words in the preamble, “get ready to pray.”
You enter “the closet” and leave the physical world outside “the door.” All else is set aside and a pleasant darkness surrounds you. You stand, sit or kneel, clasp your hands or cross your thumbs, raise your head or bow; position and place are really unimportant. You are all alone.
Then, suddenly, it is no longer a small or large place. It no longer has size. It is no longer dark or light. And you are no longer alone.
Now you feel the presence of God and you can talk to Him about that which is truly on your heart.
And we recognize, the closet is anywhere you are when talking with God.
7-21-16