Why the Scorpion?
Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion , will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? (Luke 11:11-13 compare with Matthew 7:9-11) I have read and heard this teaching of Jesus for all of my life. But yesterday it suddenly came alive for me in a new way as the Holy Spirit impressed it strongly on my heart. Quite obviously Jesus is contrasting here the natural love that a human father has toward his children with our distortions about how our heavenly Father feels towards us. The truth is, for His listeners then the very idea of even thinking about God as a Father was a rather shocking notion. They had been taught to view God as so austere and holy and distant that the idea that He wanted to relate to th...