Luke 11:5-8 And he said to them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves;… This story is merely an illustration on which an argument is founded; and it is of immense importance that we have a correct idea of what that argument really is. I. LET US HAVE THE CASE SUPPOSED CLEARLY BEFORE US. The story. Our Lord's comment upon it: "I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity" — or rather, as it ought to be rendered, "shamelessness," or more strongly still, "impudence" — "he will rise and give him as many as he needeth." Then the Lord proceeds to give the Magna Charta of prayer, in the familiar words, "Ask and it shall be given you," etc. To this He appends a comparison between an earthly father's dealings with his children and those of our heavenly Father with His. These last verses, as I believe, furnish the key to the argument in the parable. Like them, it reasons from the less to the greater, or rather, from the worse to the better. It does not mean to represent God as gruff and disobliging, like the neighbour newly roused out of his earliest sleep; neither does it recommend the suppliant to use with God such shamelessness or impudence as his friend employed with him. But the suggested inference is this: If the impudence of that midnight knocker prevailed even with an angry and annoyed man so much that he arose and gave what was requested, how much more will the humble, reverent, believing, and persevering prayer of a true child of God prevail with the infinitely kind and loving Father to whom he makes petition? Over against the irritated and reluctant man, only half awake, He places the calm, loving, heavenly Father, "who slumbers not, neither sleepeth"; while, in contrast with the impudence of his troublesome neighbour, He suggests such earnest pleading with a Father as that which they had just seen in Himself, or as He had recommended in the form which He had given them. And the conclusion which He draws is: If the appeal in the former case was ultimately successful, how much more is it likely to be so in the latter! He is far from encouraging us to trust in boldness or irreverence or impudence in prayer, as so many misunderstand His words. We shall not be heard for our frequent speaking, any more than for our much speaking. He would not have us trust in prayer at all, but in the loving, Fatherly heart of Him to whom we pray. "Wait on the Lord" — that is the lesson. But some may say, "We have tried thus to wait on Him, and though we have waited long our prayers are still unanswered." What answer can we give to these troubled spirits? The answer will take us — II. Into the consideration of THE CONDITIONS OF SUCCESSFUL PRAYER. 1. The success of prayer is conditioned by the character of the suppliant. (a) That which men desire for the gratification of malice, or the pampering of appetite, or the satisfying of ambition, or the aggrandizing of selfishness, God has nowhere promised to bestow. (b) The wish that simply flits across the soul, as the shadow of the cloud glides over the summer-grass, is no true prayer. It must take hold of the spirit, and gather into itself all the energy and earnestness of the man. (c) No one can long persist in such prayer without faith; and so at this point the Saviour's qualifying word, "believing ye shall receive," is appropriate. (d) But more important than any of these conditions in the character of the suppliant is that laid down by Jesus, when He says, "If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." We must not take the first part of that declaration and divorce it from the second. 2. A second class of conditions connect themselves with the nature of the thing requested. That which we ask must be in accordance with God's will. Beneath every genuine supplication there is the spirit of resignation. 3. This condition, connecting itself with the nature of the thing asked, is nearly akin to the third class of conditions which spring out of the purpose and prerogative of God Himself. This is a view of the case which has not been sufficiently attended to by Christians. "The hearer of prayer" is not the only relation in which God stands to His people. He is their Father as well; and He is, besides, the moral Governor of the intelligent universe. Therefore He uses His prerogative in answering prayer, for moral purposes; and the action which He takes on the petitions of His children is a portion of that discipline to which He subjects them. Or, it may be that the kind of answers which He gives is determined by the influence which the suppliant's example may have on others. III. If these views are sound and scriptural THERE MAY BE DEDUCED FROM. THEM. THREE INFERENCES OF GREAT PRACTICAL VALUE. 1. How impossible it is for us to discover the results of prayer by any merely human test. 2. To be successful suppliants we must be holy men. 3. How necessary it is that prayer should be characterized by entire submission to the will of God. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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; |
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