God Gives Good Gifts to His Children
Matthew 7v9-11
25th April 2025
Having said, as we studied last time:
Matthew 7v7-8
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be
opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door
will be opened."
Jesus continues:
Matthew 7v9-11
"Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?
If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how
much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"
Of course, Jesus says this to encourage us to ask God for what we need. We said last time that Jesus is not talking in verses 7-8 about asking for earthly riches. He's talking about asking for the kingdom of heaven, forgiveness of sins, relationship with God, spiritual fulfilment, eternal life. Here, though, He enlarges this promise to encourage to ask for any good gifts. God meets our earthy needs as well as our spiritual needs. Earlier in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus taught us to pray, "Give us today our daily bread" (Matthew 6v11).
God is the only perfect Father, and He loves us perfectly. He knows how to give good gifts to those who ask Him. Like any competent parent, though, God knows what is good for us, His children, better than we do. Every parent knows that sometimes his children asks to stay up later than is good for them, to eat food will make them ill, to avoid their homework, to skip visiting the dentist, and so on. We adults can be much like our children. We still prefer to avoid hard work and unpleasant experiences and to indulge ourselves in pleasurable and exciting ones. Like any good parent, God gives us both the pleasures and the trials that He knows will best protect and mature us.
We can be disappointed when God doesn't answer some of our prayers the way we want, but we can trust that His judgement is perfect, and that therefore He knows what is good to give us and what is good to withhold, and He loves us so much that He will give good gifts to those who ask him.
Aren't we glad that God is a generous Father, and also that God is a wise Father? I'm very glad to be able to report that God has been much more generous to me than I imagined He would be when I was first saved (Ephesians 3v20). I'm also very glad that God chose not to give me everything I've asked Him for. Some of those things would have done me harm. Others were good things, but not as good as what God had planned for me.
If we ask our heavenly Father for bread, He will not give us a stone. A stone would not give us strength. If we ask our heavenly Father for a fish, He will not give us a snake. A snake would be dangerous for us. And here's another truth: if we ask our heavenly Father for a snake, He will not give us a snake. He knows what would be bad for us.
Another aspect of God's Fatherly giving is found in:
Psalm 84v11
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favour and honour;
no good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
We have a responsibility to live morally upright lives. Again like any good father, God disciplines us when we go astray. Sometimes, we gain more when a good thing is withheld from us, at least for a time. This can help to form our character, if we receive it as God's discipline. Sometimes I can imagine God saying to me, "You're not ready for this yet, son."
Hebrews 12v5-6 (quoting Proverbs 3v11-12)
... have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as
a father addresses his son? It says:
"My son, do not regard lightly the Lord’s discipline,
and do not be weary when reproved by him,
because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens every son whom he receives."
The fundamental truth here is that God is trustworthy, honourable and loving. We can put our faith in His provision, His love and His wisdom.
When I was a child, I thought my earthly father was considerably less wise and less loving than he was. When I attained adulthood, I realised that I'd misjudged him. May the Holy Spirit so work in us, giving us insight, wisdom and trust, that we don't make the same mistake with our heavenly Father that I once did with my earthly father.