He that searcheth the heart knows the meaning of the Spirit's
unspoken prayers; and looking into the depths of the human spirit
interprets its longings, discriminating between the mere human and
partial expression and the divinely-inspired desire which may be
unexpressed. If our prayers are weak, they are answered in the
measure in which they embody in them, though perhaps mistaken by us,
a divine longing. Apparent disappointment of our petitions may be
real answers to our real prayer. It was because Jesus loved Mary and
Martha and Lazarus that He abode still in the same place where He
was, to let Lazarus die that He might be raised again. That was the
true answer to the sisters' hope of His immediate coming. God's way
of giving to us is to breathe within us a desire, and then to answer
the desire inbreathed. So, longing is the prophecy of fulfilment when
it is longing according to the will of God. They who 'hunger and
thirst after righteousness' may ever be sure that their bread shall
be given them, and their water will be made sure. The true object of
our desires is often not clear to us, and so we err in translating it
into words. Let us be thankful that we pray to a God who can discern
the prayer within the prayer, and often gives the substance of our
petitions in the very act of refusing their form.