XX.

THE IMPORTUNATE PRAYER.

"And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."

LUKE xi. 5-10.

E have here a parable drawn from the conduct of man towards man. There are several of the same kind among the parables of our Lord. But, inasmuch as God's ways are higher than our ways, and his thoughts than our thoughts, the parable can represent in part only the truth it is meant to teach; for what man does to man in the way of kindness is but an imperfect picture of what God does.

In that time and country, when there were not shops and inns as with us, and when travelling was so different, such a thing as is represented in the parable might easily happen. An unexpected visitor arrives in the middle of the night at the house of a friend, and seeks lodging and food; but he finds his friend ill-prepared to receive him, for he has nothing in the house. Hospitality however has always been thought a great duty

in the East; the friend therefore goes to a neighbour's house, and asks him for bread to set before the stranger. But it is midnight, and the door is shut, and the neighbour and his family have all retired to rest. "Trouble

me not," he answers from within: "I cannot rise and give thee." But the other man is not easily sent away. He knocks again, and repeats his request; and this many times, till at length his neighbour, tired of refusing, gets up, though with no good grace, and gives him what he wants. The feeling of friendship was not strong enough to rouse him, but importunity prevails.

By this parable our Lord teaches us to be importunate, or persevering, in prayer. It arose in this way: Jesus himself was praying, and his disciples saw him: and when he left off, one of them came and said, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples." Then our Lord taught them what we call "The Lord's Prayer," and immediately after spoke this parable to them, thus teaching them not only how to pray, but also that they must persevere in praying, not content with asking once, but asking again and again.

The man in the parable would not get up at the first request. He heard his friend's voice, and knew his wants, but was unwilling to trouble himself to rise. It pleases God sometimes not to answer our prayers at first. It seems as if they were not heard; nay, discouraging circumstances may even lead us to fear that our petition is refused like that in the parable. But there is this great difference: the man was unwilling, God is never unwilling. The man's friendship was but an imperfect friendship. If it had been daytime, and he had been up and about, he would have

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lent the loaves without grudging; but he would not put himself to the trouble of rising at midnight. The 'kindness of God, on the other hand, is perfect and unfailing. If therefore our first prayers seem to receive no answer, it is not because God is unwilling to grant our request. If it be really for our good, he is quite willing to grant it, and willing from the very first; and he is as able as he is willing. Even the man in the parable was able. His "I cannot" meant in truth, "I will not." God is both able and willing.

Again, the man would not rise because the time was unseasonable; but no time is unseasonable with God. "Evening and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud," said David, “and he shall hear my voice." "At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee.” Time and place make no difference with God. Every place may be a place of prayer, and every time a time for praying. Prayer to God is never unseasonable. "Call upon me," he says, "in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." Whenever the day of trouble may come, then and there we are to call upon God. And though he may not deliver us at once, it is not because we have called upon him at a wrong time. There is no wrong time for prayer, provided it is a time of need.

But at length the man did rise. Unwilling as he was, yet weary of repeated applications he at last got up and gave the loaves. How much more then will God attend to the repeated prayers of those who call upon him! In the parable the time was unseasonable, the friend's kindness was but imperfect, and he was unwilling to rise; yet importunity prevailed, and he did rise. No time is unseasonable with God; his kind

ness is perfect; he is always willing to hear and bless. Surely then he will not turn a deaf ear to us when we call upon him again and again. If persevering prayer prevailed with an unwilling man, it will not fail with a gracious God.

The lesson therefore which our Lord draws from the parable is this: "And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." To make the exhortation stronger, three different words are used-Ask, Seek, Knock; and to each is joined a promise. And then, lest any humble soul should still fear that the exhortation and promise are not for him, our gracious Lord adds, "For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."

It is not to 'he worthy alone that the promise is given; every one that asketh receiveth; every one who asks in the way of the gospel, humbly and sincerely, in the name of Jesus Christ. None are shut out. Whatever they may have done, whatever they may have been, whatever may be their wants, their sins, their sorrows, temptations, infirmities, yet the exhortation and the promise come to them-" Ask, and it shall be given you; . . . for every one that asketh receiveth." The promise is applied more particularly to the gift of the Holy Spirit, but we may apply it also to every blessing, temporal or spiritual, that would really be for our good; to the pardon of sin, to comfort in trouble, to help in difficulty, to guidance in doubt. Whenever we pray, we may do so in the faith of our Saviour's words, "Ask, and it shall be given you"; and the constant remembrance of them will make us

more frequent, more earnest, and more believing in prayer.

But these words of our Lord come at the close of the parable, and contain the exhortation which he draws 'from it; we must therefore take them in close connexion with it. We are not to ask once, and then leave off asking, as if the work were done. We are to ask, and ask again; to seek with perseverance; to knock repeatedly. For our Lord does not tell us that the blessing shall come on the first application. He will bless us when he will, and how he will. The Syrophenician woman had to ask three times before she received. The first time Jesus answered her not a word; the second time he seemed almost to refuse her request; and it was only when she still persevered that he said, "O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt." Yet she was heard from the very first; and it was doubtless only to try her faith that the answer was withheld so long.

We too are heard when first we pray, and heard graciously. Even the man in the parable heard the very first knock of his friend, though he would not rise. We are heard at our first cry to God, and heard with no unwillingness to help. If it please our Father, in his infinite wisdom, and for our good, in order to try our faith and thus to strengthen it,—if it please him to keep us waiting awhile, that we may pray again and again, more humbly and earnestly, can we not abide his time? Must we have what we desire at the very first cry, or think that God will not give it at all? How often does the Psalmist speak of waiting on the Lord! "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I