Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?
Matthew 7:10 (CSB)
Jesus asks the dads in the crowd a second question. A boy asks his dad for a fish. Would his dad hand him a snake instead?
Fish and bread were the everyday food where Jesus lived. So the boy is just asking for supper.
A snake is worse than a stone. A stone is useless to a hungry boy. And under God’s law for Israel, a snake wasn’t even allowed as food. No loving dad would answer his son with a snake.
Jesus wants us to know that God never answers His children with a stone or a snake. When we ask Him for what we need, He doesn’t answer with something meant to hurt us.
Sometimes we pray and then brace ourselves. We ask God to help us through a surgery or a family problem. Then part of us expects things to go wrong because we asked.
We don’t need to be afraid of God’s answers. We should ask Him plainly for what we need. We should expect good from Him, the way a child expects good from a loving dad.
After Jesus rose from the dead, His friends had been fishing all night. Jesus was waiting on the shore. There was a fire going with fish on it, and bread. He said, “Come and have breakfast” (John 21:12). One of those men was Peter. Peter had said three times that he didn’t even know Jesus. Jesus fed him anyway. Jesus shows us what God the Father is like.