Leroy Brownlow tells a story about a family of wayward church members—a father and three sons. Once active but now indifferent,
they have been visited by the preacher and the elders. Everything within reason had been done to restore them—all in vain.

One day while working, a large rattlesnake bit John, one of the sons. The doctor was summoned and pronounced his condition grave. He observed that about the only thing left was prayer. Immediately the preacher and elders were called. The preacher was asked to pray for John’s recovery. He did—sort of. This was his prayer:

O wise and righteous Father, we thank thee that thy hast, in thy wisdom, sent this rattlesnake to bite John, in order to bring him to his senses. He has not been inside the church house for years, and it is very doubtful that he has in all this time, until now, felt any need for prayer. Now we trust that this will prove a valuable lesson to him, and that it may lead to genuine repentance. And now, O Father, wilt thou send another to bite Sam and another to bite Jim and another BIG ONE to bite the old man? We have been doing everything we know for years to restore them but to no avail. It seems, therefore, that what all our combined efforts could not do, this rattlesnake has done. We thus conclude that the only thing left that will do this family any good is rattlesnakes; so, Lord, send us bigger and better rattlesnakes. In Jesus name, Amen.

It shouldn’t take an emergency for us to see our dependency upon God. The prophet promised, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee” (Isaiah 26:3).