ired and expected. Hannah asked a son; in that case God saw
that the request was wise: the child asked bread, and the Father, after
the needful trial of faith, bestowed it freely. Some have asked a son,
not knowing that in their case the gift would have been a serpent. All
their days they have wondered why the boon was denied, and have learned,
perhaps, in the light of the great white throne when their days on
earth were done, that He who cared for them shielded their bosoms more
tenderly and effectually than themselves could have done, from one of
the sharpest stings that pierce the flesh of living men. Abraham
believed God, and every step of his life-journey was thereby made plain:
some great mountains that stood in the path of the patriarch were
obliged to get quickly out of the way as he approached. To him that
believeth, all things are possible.

At midnight, in the parable, the cry for help came, and prevailed. It is
never out of season to pray, until you be out of life. He that keeps
Israel slumbers not nor sleeps. Come we early, he is awake; come we
late, he has not retired to rest. In prayer, the shamefacedness ([Greek:
anaideia]) that shrinks from giving trouble should have absolutely no
place. We trouble God by our sins, but not by our prayers. Is the sun
burdened by the weight of the planets that hang on him as they run their
course? Is he exhausted by the necessity of supplying them with the
light in which they shine? Would you relieve him by covering some of
them up, or blotting them out of being? The infinite God is not wearied
by the weight of all the worlds he has made: the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ is not exhausted by giving a portion to each of his
regenerated children of human kind. Ten lepers were healed by the word
of Jesus, and of them one came back to give him praise. That man in his
eagerness pushed aside every obstruction, and pressed through the crowd
that encircled the great Teacher, demanding and engaging his attention.
Did the interruption trouble the Lord? No. Who troubled him? Not the one
who came, but the nine who remained at a distance. With a sigh the Lord
said, "Where are the nine?" He grieved because they did not come back
with praise: therefore he would have rejoiced if they had come. But if
they who come to Christ to give thanks please him much, they who come to
him asking gifts please him more; for in his own experience, and
according to his own testimony, it is more