Boy Asks for an Egg and Is Offered a Scorpionby CBPepper
11:12Luke 11:12
Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
The verse belongs to the promise that everyone who asks receives, seeks finds, and knocks opens, pictured by a child asking a father for an egg who will never answer with a scorpion to mock or harm him. Even sinful earthly fathers know how to give their children good food rather than harm, and how much more the kind heavenly Father gives good gifts, especially the Holy Spirit, to those who ask Him and will not withhold Him. He hears the humble, contrite, sincere petitioner with goodness beyond conceiving, and gives the needed blessing often beyond expectation, though the answer may differ from what was asked and may come later at the time of greatest need, and no such prayer is lost. Those who honestly go to God alone to ask for what is good do not receive in return something harmful or evil, so sincere seekers for the Holy Spirit have no cause to fear receiving mesmerism or satanic deception instead. Believers are therefore to ask in faith persistently and earnestly without doubting, and to continually receive from the Father in order to impart to others, coming morning by morning from time with God to share the bread of life and the Holy Spirit with hungry souls.
Setting and Illustration
Luke 11:12 belongs to the teaching in Luke 11:1-13 summarized as ask and receive. That teaching rests on the promise that everyone who asks receives, who seeks finds, and to who knocks it shall be opened. Its human picture is a child asking a father for an egg.
The father does not answer with a scorpion, mock him, or frustrate him with something harmful or useless in place of what is needed. Such a response is presented as impossible and unthinkable, illustrating care and generosity toward those who ask. The illustration gives confidence to pray and shows readiness to hear and answer those who ask.
The setting is the lesson of asking to give, illustrated by the midnight request for bread to meet another's need. Disciples were appointed to give the people the bread of life, but would often feel unable to help those hungering for it. They must seek spiritual food from God so they can give it to others, asking for the Holy Spirit and for the bread of life to feed hungry souls in order to share it. Receiving is thus joined to imparting for the sake of others rather than self.
Father's Generous Giving
Even sinful and evil earthly fathers know how to give their children good gifts and good food when they ask, and would never mock a son who asks for an egg by offering something harmful. A father does not answer a child's request for an egg with a harmful scorpion, and a hungry child given bread and fish receives not harmful things. God as Father likewise does not mock or harm those who pray but gives what is good.
How much more does the kind heavenly Father give good gifts rather than harm to those who ask, seek, and knock. Those who ask, seek, and knock are invited to come to God and are assured they will not come in vain, for He welcomes those who come in Jesus' name. He does not answer a request for what is good by giving something harmful, and trials can lead people to pray earnestly and draw closer to Christ. The promised good gift is especially the Holy Spirit, which the heavenly Father gives to those who ask Him. The greatest gift will not be withheld or denied, but bestowed abundantly, for the whole of heaven's treasures have been committed to Jesus to impart to the church in rich, full currents of love and grace and power.
God does not turn away those who seek Him sincerely, but hears the humble, contrite petitioner and freely gives good gifts. He is more willing than earthly parents to meet His children's needs, with goodness and love beyond conceiving, so requests may be brought to Him without reluctance and under confidence in His mercy. The humble and contrite receive faith in Christ, justification, forgiveness, comfort, and the promised blessing. He hears sincere prayers offered in faith from an honest heart and gives the needed blessing, often beyond expectation, and no prayer of a true saint so offered is lost. Like a loving parent who gives what is good and healthful instead of what a child wants when that desire would hurt, He gives what is good for them even when it differs from what they asked, and the blessing may come later at the time of greatest need and may exceed expectation.
Praying with Confidence
The assurance that a father does not answer a child's request for an egg with a scorpion means believers should ask in faith, persistently and earnestly, without doubting. Persevering prayer strengthens spiritual union and faith. Every need, even a small concern, may be brought to God, and continued asking does not weary Him.
The promise is to be taken up in the Bible and presented before the throne of grace in earnest, humble prayer and determined wrestling for the endowment of the Holy Spirit. That wrestling is to meet responsibility and use opportunities for mission work amid opposition, amusement, and diversion, believing God will do just as He said, and then going to work in faith, holding fast without weakening. It includes seeking God continually for instruction and guidance, keeping the request in mind while working, and asking in faith for the Holy Spirit's power. It also means continuing in earnest prayer for purity and salvation until there is assurance of pardoned sin.
Strength and guidance are to be sought from God rather than by relying on other people. Trials can lead people to pray earnestly and draw closer to Christ. When trials come in the battle where the flesh fights against the spirit and the carnal heart refuses to submit and obey God's will, the tried one is to flee to Christ as the Mighty Helper as a child comes to earthly parents, believing He will hear, because He never leaves His own to fight these battles alone.
Security from Deception
Those who honestly go to God alone to plead His promises and claim His salvation, asking for what is good, receive what they ask and do not receive something harmful, hurtful, false, or evil in return. The kind Father in heaven does not answer asking for bread or an egg with a stone or a scorpion, and asking Him for His promises and salvation is not asking to receive deception or harm instead. Sincere seekers have no cause to fear that exchange, for they do not receive mesmerism, satanic deception, or a deceptive soul-damning influence instead of the work of the Holy Spirit.
The exercises of the Holy Spirit experienced by holy people who seek God in faith are real gifts from Him, not excitement or delusion. That includes praising God and receiving vision, which are not mesmerism or the deceptions of Satan.
Living nearest to God does not make a person most liable to be deceived by Satan, and safety from delusion is found close to God, not by remaining at a distance from Him in a backslidden state. To charge that private prayer and spiritual experience were mesmerism expresses anguish like being told that pleading God's promises brings deception instead of the Holy Spirit's work, and that accusation wounded and nearly drove the speaker to despair.
Receiving to Impart
The lesson is asking in order to give, continually receiving from the Father in order to communicate to others. The word heard is not one's own but the Father's, for the Son of man came not to be ministered unto but to minister. It means living and thinking and praying not for self but for others. It means coming forth morning by morning from hours spent with God to bring the light of heaven to men. It means receiving daily a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit, with soul and lips anointed with grace in the early hours of the new day in order to impart to others words given fresh from the heavenly courts to speak in season to the weary and oppressed.
Those who ask for the Holy Spirit and for the bread of life to feed hungry souls are to share what they receive by serving others. Asking for bread to feed hungry souls illustrates earnest prayer, and the Holy Spirit is the gift sought in faith. God gives the Holy Spirit to those who hunger for the bread of life and ask for it so they can share it with others.
Receiving is joined to imparting, and those who ask for the Holy Spirit must be consecrated, deny self, take up the cross, and follow Christ. The Father does not mock or harm those who pray but gives what is good, and much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. The Holy Spirit quickens, purifies, guides and rules the heart where Jesus abides, while the human agent makes strenuous efforts to bring character into harmony with God and to avoid everything contrary to the revealed will and mind of God. This calls those who profess to know the truth to give up idols, to plead with God, to ask the Lord to reveal self to self, and to place life under His searching eye. It calls them to see grievous mistakes and what was thought of little importance as offensive to Heaven, to put away the evil of doings, and to cooperate with God in thorough transformation of character. The midnight request for bread shows that persistent asking to meet another's need can succeed.
Those who come to God in Jesus' name are welcomed, for God welcomes those who ask Him and is willing to give good gifts, not harm, as a loving father is to his child. The humble and contrite receive faith in Christ, justification, forgiveness, and comfort. This is the experience of God's promised blessing.
The verse belongs to the promise that everyone who asks receives, seeks finds, and knocks opens, pictured by a child asking a father for an egg who will never answer with a scorpion to mock or harm him.
Even sinful earthly fathers know how to give their children good food rather than harm, and how much more the kind heavenly Father gives good gifts, especially the Holy Spirit, to those who ask Him and will not withhold Him.
He hears the humble, contrite, sincere petitioner with goodness beyond conceiving, and gives the needed blessing often beyond expectation, though the answer may differ from what was asked and may come later at the time of greatest need, and no such prayer is lost.
Those who honestly go to God alone to ask for what is good do not receive in return something harmful or evil, so sincere seekers for the Holy Spirit have no cause to fear receiving mesmerism or satanic deception instead.
Believers are therefore to ask in faith persistently and earnestly without doubting, and to continually receive from the Father in order to impart to others, coming morning by morning from time with God to share the bread of life and the Holy Spirit with hungry souls.
Setting and Illustration
Luke 11:12 belongs to the teaching in Luke 11:1-13 summarized as ask and receive. That teaching rests on the promise that everyone who asks receives, who seeks finds, and to who knocks it shall be opened. Its human picture is a child asking a father for an egg.
The father does not answer with a scorpion, mock him, or frustrate him with something harmful or useless in place of what is needed. Such a response is presented as impossible and unthinkable, illustrating care and generosity toward those who ask. The illustration gives confidence to pray and shows readiness to hear and answer those who ask.
The setting is the lesson of asking to give, illustrated by the midnight request for bread to meet another's need. Disciples were appointed to give the people the bread of life, but would often feel unable to help those hungering for it. They must seek spiritual food from God so they can give it to others, asking for the Holy Spirit and for the bread of life to feed hungry souls in order to share it. Receiving is thus joined to imparting for the sake of others rather than self.
Father's Generous Giving
Even sinful and evil earthly fathers know how to give their children good gifts and good food when they ask, and would never mock a son who asks for an egg by offering something harmful. A father does not answer a child's request for an egg with a harmful scorpion, and a hungry child given bread and fish receives not harmful things. God as Father likewise does not mock or harm those who pray but gives what is good.
How much more does the kind heavenly Father give good gifts rather than harm to those who ask, seek, and knock. Those who ask, seek, and knock are invited to come to God and are assured they will not come in vain, for He welcomes those who come in Jesus' name. He does not answer a request for what is good by giving something harmful, and trials can lead people to pray earnestly and draw closer to Christ. The promised good gift is especially the Holy Spirit, which the heavenly Father gives to those who ask Him. The greatest gift will not be withheld or denied, but bestowed abundantly, for the whole of heaven's treasures have been committed to Jesus to impart to the church in rich, full currents of love and grace and power.
God does not turn away those who seek Him sincerely, but hears the humble, contrite petitioner and freely gives good gifts. He is more willing than earthly parents to meet His children's needs, with goodness and love beyond conceiving, so requests may be brought to Him without reluctance and under confidence in His mercy. The humble and contrite receive faith in Christ, justification, forgiveness, comfort, and the promised blessing. He hears sincere prayers offered in faith from an honest heart and gives the needed blessing, often beyond expectation, and no prayer of a true saint so offered is lost. Like a loving parent who gives what is good and healthful instead of what a child wants when that desire would hurt, He gives what is good for them even when it differs from what they asked, and the blessing may come later at the time of greatest need and may exceed expectation.
Praying with Confidence
The assurance that a father does not answer a child's request for an egg with a scorpion means believers should ask in faith, persistently and earnestly, without doubting. Persevering prayer strengthens spiritual union and faith. Every need, even a small concern, may be brought to God, and continued asking does not weary Him.
The promise is to be taken up in the Bible and presented before the throne of grace in earnest, humble prayer and determined wrestling for the endowment of the Holy Spirit. That wrestling is to meet responsibility and use opportunities for mission work amid opposition, amusement, and diversion, believing God will do just as He said, and then going to work in faith, holding fast without weakening. It includes seeking God continually for instruction and guidance, keeping the request in mind while working, and asking in faith for the Holy Spirit's power. It also means continuing in earnest prayer for purity and salvation until there is assurance of pardoned sin.
Strength and guidance are to be sought from God rather than by relying on other people. Trials can lead people to pray earnestly and draw closer to Christ. When trials come in the battle where the flesh fights against the spirit and the carnal heart refuses to submit and obey God's will, the tried one is to flee to Christ as the Mighty Helper as a child comes to earthly parents, believing He will hear, because He never leaves His own to fight these battles alone.
Security from Deception
Those who honestly go to God alone to plead His promises and claim His salvation, asking for what is good, receive what they ask and do not receive something harmful, hurtful, false, or evil in return. The kind Father in heaven does not answer asking for bread or an egg with a stone or a scorpion, and asking Him for His promises and salvation is not asking to receive deception or harm instead. Sincere seekers have no cause to fear that exchange, for they do not receive mesmerism, satanic deception, or a deceptive soul-damning influence instead of the work of the Holy Spirit.
The exercises of the Holy Spirit experienced by holy people who seek God in faith are real gifts from Him, not excitement or delusion. That includes praising God and receiving vision, which are not mesmerism or the deceptions of Satan.
Living nearest to God does not make a person most liable to be deceived by Satan, and safety from delusion is found close to God, not by remaining at a distance from Him in a backslidden state. To charge that private prayer and spiritual experience were mesmerism expresses anguish like being told that pleading God's promises brings deception instead of the Holy Spirit's work, and that accusation wounded and nearly drove the speaker to despair.
Receiving to Impart
The lesson is asking in order to give, continually receiving from the Father in order to communicate to others. The word heard is not one's own but the Father's, for the Son of man came not to be ministered unto but to minister. It means living and thinking and praying not for self but for others. It means coming forth morning by morning from hours spent with God to bring the light of heaven to men. It means receiving daily a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit, with soul and lips anointed with grace in the early hours of the new day in order to impart to others words given fresh from the heavenly courts to speak in season to the weary and oppressed.
Those who ask for the Holy Spirit and for the bread of life to feed hungry souls are to share what they receive by serving others. Asking for bread to feed hungry souls illustrates earnest prayer, and the Holy Spirit is the gift sought in faith. God gives the Holy Spirit to those who hunger for the bread of life and ask for it so they can share it with others.
Receiving is joined to imparting, and those who ask for the Holy Spirit must be consecrated, deny self, take up the cross, and follow Christ. The Father does not mock or harm those who pray but gives what is good, and much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. The Holy Spirit quickens, purifies, guides and rules the heart where Jesus abides, while the human agent makes strenuous efforts to bring character into harmony with God and to avoid everything contrary to the revealed will and mind of God. This calls those who profess to know the truth to give up idols, to plead with God, to ask the Lord to reveal self to self, and to place life under His searching eye. It calls them to see grievous mistakes and what was thought of little importance as offensive to Heaven, to put away the evil of doings, and to cooperate with God in thorough transformation of character. The midnight request for bread shows that persistent asking to meet another's need can succeed.
Those who come to God in Jesus' name are welcomed, for God welcomes those who ask Him and is willing to give good gifts, not harm, as a loving father is to his child. The humble and contrite receive faith in Christ, justification, forgiveness, and comfort. This is the experience of God's promised blessing.