God
there is nothing in common with the conduct of the unjust judge, except
the delay. The fact that the petitions lie for some time unanswered is
common to both tribunals, but on all other points they are wholly
diverse, and even the single feature of coincidence springs in the two
cases from opposite grounds.

When God withholds the deliverance for which his children plead he acts
with wisdom and love combined. It would be, so to speak, easier for a
father who is at once rich and benevolent to comply immediately and
fully with all the child's demands; it requires and exercises a deeper,
stronger love to leave the child crying and knocking for a time in vain
that the bounty given at the proper time may in the end be a greater
boon. I once knew two men who lived near each other in similar worldly
circumstances, but adopted opposite methods in the treatment of their
children. The boys of this family obtained money from their father when
they asked it, and spent it according to their own pleasure, without his
knowledge or control: the boys of that family often asked, but seldom
received a similar supply. The father who frequently thwarted his
children's desires loved his children more deeply, and as the result
showed, more wisely than the father who could not summon courage
sufficient to say No. The wise parent bore with his own when they
pleaded for some dangerous indulgence, and the bearing wounded his
tender heart; but by reason of his greater love, he bore the pain of
hearing their cry without granting their request. The other parent was
too indolent and self-pleasing to endure such a strain, and he lived to
taste bitter fruit from the evil seed which his own hand had sown.

For the same reason, and in the same manner, our Father in heaven bears
with his own when they cry night and day to him for something on which
their hearts are set. Because he loves us he endures to hear our cry and
see our tears. We do not certainly know what thorn it was that
penetrated Paul's flesh, but we know that it pained him much, that he
eagerly desired to be quit of it, and that he besought the Lord thrice
to take it away. From the fact that the child pleaded three times for
the same boon, we learn that the Father bore with him awhile,--bore, so
to speak, the pain of refusing, because he knew that the refusal was
needful for Paul. The thorn was left in the flesh until its discipline
was done, and then it was plucked out by a strong and