9. How did Jesus illustrate the kindness of parents towards their own children? Matthew 7:9-10.
NOTE: ‘The Lord has sought to show us how ready is God to hear and answer our request by the use of a most familiar and commonplace occurrence. He said: “What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?” (Matthew 7:9-11). Christ made an appeal to us concerning the willingness of God to help, arguing from the natural love of the parent to his offspring. What father could turn from his son who asks bread? Should anyone dishonour God by imagining that He will not respond to the call of His children? Would we think a parent capable of trifling with his child, and tantalising him by raising his expectation only to disappoint him? Will a father promise to give good and nourishing food to his child and then give him a stone?’ Selected Messages, book 1, page 329.
10. How did Jesus compare our heavenly Father with earthly parents? Matthew 7:11. Compare Luke 11:13.
NOTE: ‘If ye, then, being human and evil, “know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” Luke 11:13. The Holy Spirit, the representative of Himself, is the greatest of all gifts. All “good things” are comprised in this. The Creator Himself can give us nothing greater, nothing better. When we beseech the Lord to pity us in our distress, and to guide us by His Holy Spirit, He will never turn away our prayer. It is possible even for a parent to turn away from his hungry child, but God can never reject the cry of the needy and longing heart. With what wonderful tenderness He has described His love! To those who in days of darkness feel that God is unmindful of them, this is the message from the Father’s heart: “Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands.” Isaiah 49:14-16.’ Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, page 132.