The importunate prayer

The Lord’s Prayer. The Importunate Friend. The Father.

(The Gospel History, Section 91)

And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine is come to me from a journey, 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 arise and give him as many as he needeth.

The importunate prayer

(The Saviour of the World, Vol VI Book III Poem XXVII)

’Twas to these men as if a word
Of childish make-believe they’d heard;
A little child on staff will go
And thinks he leads an army so;
A boulder, castle he defends,
A blade of grass green magic lends,
And all the world belongs to him
In right of his perceptions dim,
To whom small things as great appear,
And what is not as though it were.

But they, being grown men, quick to see,
Distinguish dreams from things that be,
Now, how shall they themselves deceive
With a child’s happy make-believe?
That they should ask, and God should grant
Attention to each petty want
They tell Him of in prayer, why that
Were the child’s foolishness, whereat
Grave, thoughtful men could only smile
E’en though they wished it true the while:
Reflect, how many men there be
In all the world; if each were free
The listening ear of God to assail
With tale of wants that never fail,
If God were pledged to grant to each
That blessing most beyond his reach,
And therefore most to be desired,
If men to rule the heavens aspired
By force of importunity,
Why, where were then the Deity?
“God serving at all men’s command
Is not the Lord we understand!”

Christ saw the men’s perplexity,
The doubts, howe’er unwillingly,
They entertained; nor could He give
To men unready to receive.
The limitations of a man,
He knew, confined in narrow span
Their mortal thought, nor could they gauge
All the word “Infinite” should presage;
Scarce could they the conception reach
That “Infinite God” is God for each,—
At leisure for each man’s distress
As though none else prayed Him to bless.

Not ready, they, God’s ways to learn,
Nor the Almighty to discern
In ways so tender with each soul
As were his small concerns the whole:—
So, milk for babes, the Lord imparts
In tale, to nourish feeble hearts,
Like ours and theirs.
“A man would sleep,
And all his family would keep
About him in the private night;
No person might for reason slight
Disturb the slumb’ring family.
’Tis midnight and all silent be,
When instant knock disturbs the peace;
The father lies, hoping ’twill cease,
That constant knocking at the door;
The man outside but knocks the more.
At last the master of the house
Unwillingly himself doth rouse;
A friend’s familiar voice he hears;
‘It is thy neighbour, have no fears;
A friend of mine has in the night
Arrived, and I’m in sorry plight
With nought to set before him; so,
I haste to beg of one I know
Full-willing; now, I pray thee, lend
Three loaves to set before my friend!’

“‘Trouble me not,’ the neighbour cries;
‘Thou wouldst not have me now arise,
Disturb my children, quit my bed,
That this trav’ller, forsooth, be fed?’

“He turns him round and feigns to sleep,
But th’ other doth incessant keep
Persistent knockings at the door:
Anon, he cries, ‘I can no more
Of this incessant knocking stand,
I’ll e’en get up, and to his hand
Give the three loaves; but not for love;
My peace I hold my friend above!’

“If God were e’en than man no more,
Persistent knockings at His door,
Persistent crying on His grace,—
Will these not cause Him turn His face?
The man gat up the loaves to lend,
Not, for the other was his friend,
But, for his importunity
Disturbed the night’s tranquillity.”

“But, Lord, sure God is more than man,
For what He willeth, that He can:
Now God is love and willeth good:
Why then should men’s prayers be withstood?”

“Nay, son, thou reasonest well, but think
Again, how men in friendship link
Their hearts and lives; one asks, one gives;
In importunity there lives
Soliciting of love! Remote
Were God indeed if straight He smote
The sinner nor gave power to pray;
If straight He granted, on that day
A man first asked, some blessing sweet
Had brought the suppliant to His feet.
The man takes up the gift He craved;
Evil from which he hath been saved
Is out of mind, now; God is not
In all his thoughts; he hath forgot
Deliverance too lightly won;
And holy intercourse, begun
In hour of peril or desire,
Goes out as a neglected fire.

“Wherefore, your Father bears to hear
Recited in His tireless ear
Again, again, and every day,
Those needs have moved men’s hearts to pray:
The day may come when ye, at one
With God who loves you, for love’s sake
Shall come to Him with words that break
From out the fulness of a heart
That finds in Him the better part.
But how should men of carnal mood
Else teach their hearts to think of God?”

St. Luke xi. 5–8.

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