Fish or Serpent; Which? by Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jan 23, 1912

Fish or Serpent; Which?

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

HERE is one thing which we would better settle at once and forever in our mind, and that is this: To take the bare word of the Lord, without any mental reservation whatever, and to believe that He means exactly what He says; that He will not promise one thing and then do the opposite; in other words, that what the Almighty promises to do or to give or to fulfil, is just as sure as is His everlasting throne.

"Yes," you say, "I get very much comfort from the promises; but sometimes I am just a little puzzled, because, really, I can't see that they are always fulfilled. For instance, that one which says, 'Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.' Now I have asked for one certain blessing to come to me,—asked, and knocked, and sought. Other things for which I have prayed have come to me, but that which I have desired more than all, has not come; I have been sorely perplexed, and I wonder why God does not answer me."

Well, my sister, the Lord answers our prayers many times when we do not realize it. Unless the answer is affirmative, we seem not to realize that we have received any answer at all. To illustrate:

Mr. Jones has a fine horse, which Mr. Brown wishes to purchase. Mr. Brown accordingly writes Mr. Jones a letter, asking if the horse is for sale, and stating that he wishes to buy it. In due time he receives a letter from the owner, who says, "No, sir; I do not wish to sell the animal."

Now would it not be strange indeed for Mr. Brown to insist that Mr. Jones had never answered him?

Sometimes the Lord answers us by a direct refusal to grant our request; but it is none the less an answer.

"But why does He refuse me?"—Why do you sometimes refuse to grant the desires of your child?

"Well, but if he asks a 'fish,' I am very sure that I would not give him a 'serpent.'"

No, no; and neither does your heavenly Father.

"But," says Mrs. Hasty, "I don't know about that; to say the least, I can't understand it. Now, I am very much troubled with a hasty temper. I grow angry very easily. So I asked the Lord to give me patience. And I asked in faith, too. I verily believed that He could do it, and that He would. That was about a year ago; and I've prayed for patience every single day since, and (I admit the truth with shame) I have lost my temper many times, tho I do believe I'm gaining some ground. But I tell you, I've never had a year of such perplexity and trial in all my life. O, I wonder why the Lord does not answer my prayer!"

Methinks I see the hot tears rolling down Mrs. Hasty's cheeks as she makes this confession, for she is very much in earnest. Strange that she does not appreciate the truth that the Lord has been answering her prayer all the time; He is trying to teach her patience.

Now there is one short verse in the good Book, which is the key to the whole situation, only Mrs. Hasty has forgotten the verse. She has been praying for the very thing which she has received; for "tribulation worketh patience" (Rom. 5:3, 4).

Mrs. Hasty does not desire tribulation. But the pathway of trial and tribulation of one kind or another, is the only path which perfects the Christlike grace of patience. Why, there is no virtue in wearing a sweet smile and speaking in gentle tones when everything goes smoothly and we may have our own way in every matter. But when the bread sours, and the baby is cross, and John is exasperating, and the cookies burn up in the oven, and Mary spills the gravy down the front of her best dress, and that tedious Mrs. Blank comes over in the early morning and stays so long you are forced to neglect your morning's work until almost dinner time,—then, O, then is the time to exercise patience. If you had been ever so kind and good when there was no provocation, you could not be called "patient,"—now could you, Mrs. Hasty?

"But do you really mean to say that when I pray for patience, I necessarily ask for trials and tribulation?"

I really do mean just that; because patience is the direct fruit of tribulation of some sort; it is a fruit which thrives upon no other tree.

"Still," you say, "if I ask God for some blessing which I very much desire and need, and if I have fulfilled, on my part, all the conditions, as far as I know them, is not God bound, on His part, to carry out His share of the contract, and never to give me a 'serpent' if I ask for 'fish'?"

Let me repeat: He is not only bound to do so, but He always does do so; He never fails.

"Never?"—No, my sister, He never fails. But sometimes you and I fail to recognize the nature of His gift. Sometimes the devil actually blinds our eyes to that degree that, in our blindness, we declare the "fish" to be a "serpent." We must not, MUST NOT allow him thus to blind and deceive us. We must not be ignorant of his cruel wiles; for he has come down with great power, knowing that he has but a short time.

Let us always remember that "every good gift and every perfect gift" comes from God, and that He never gives His children anything else.

Sickness? — Yes, sometimes. Poverty? Yes. Tribulation? — Yes. Trials? — Yes, if God sends them, they are good for us,—best for us!

Then no matter how much the "fish" for which we have prayed, may, to our blinded eyes, resemble a "serpent," we are to lift up our eyes to the heavens, tho they seem but brass, and cry in faith: "The word of Jehovah stands sure; and it matters not what He sends us, it is 'fish;' and it is not and it can not be a 'serpent.'"

Did you know that we must learn to take God's word even in preference to our own natural eyesight? — We must.

It is quite possible for us to be mistaken. But "the word of the Lord endureth forever." And verily the time hasteth when it will be said, "Blessed is the man whose hope is in the Lord of Hosts."