I’m currently in my second reading of Timothy Keller’s book, “Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God”. This is a fabulous book on prayer.
Dr Keller spends time going through George Herbert’s poem, viz., “Prayer (I)”.
What a wonderful set of words which richly describes the highs and lows of prayer. If you want a full explanation of the poem I recommend reading Dr Keller’s book. He spends many pages explaining it.
Prayer the church’s banquet, angel’s age,
God’s breath in man returning to his birth,
The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav’n and earth
Engine against th’ Almighty, sinner’s tow’r,
Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
The six-days world transposing in an hour,
A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear;
Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss,
Exalted manna, gladness of the best,
Heaven in ordinary, man well drest,
The milky way, the bird of Paradise,
Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul’s blood,
The land of spices; something understood.
A second chance 