TESTING GOD

Matthew 4:6

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.

“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered him “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

                This is Satan’s second temptation to Jesus after he had fasted and been tempted daily by the Devil for forty days in the Judean desert.  Satan deceitfully suggests that Jesus test God by jumping off a pinnacle on the temple.  Historical records tell us that the pinnacle that Satan wanted Jesus to throw Himself down off of was an extension of Herod’s royal palace that hung out over the Kidron Valley approximately 450 feet above the ground. 

                When Satan quotes Scripture, you need to make sure you double and triple check what he’s saying to you.  Here the devil quotes Psalm 91:11-12 to Jesus, but only in part to justify a presumptuous act, while the Psalm really only promises that God will deliver those who trust and abide in Him.  Matter-of-fact, the passage starts off by saying, “IF you make the Most High your dwelling…then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent” (v.9).  Jesus could have jumped and angels would have attended to His fall and needs, but in doing so, Jesus would have been compromising His relationship with His Father and testing Him and His Word. 

                Have you ever purposely sinned all the while telling yourself that God has promised to forgive you?  That is testing God.  Have you ever recklessly spent the money He provided you through your job then reminded Him that He promises to meet all your needs?  That’s testing God.  Have you ever gossiped about someone at church then prayed for them at the end of your conversation trying to convince yourself and God you weren’t gossiping?  That’s testing God. Or how about purposely and recklessly abusing your body with food, drugs or alcohol, then reminding Him that Jesus died for your sicknesses as well as your sins?  That’s testing God.   Have you ever murmured about God not providing all your needs when you wanted them?  That’s testing God.   Psalm 119:11 says, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”  Jesus took these words literally.

                Jesus was quoting Duet. 6:16 when He said, “…You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”  Jesus’ response comes right out of Deuteronomy where the Israelites were wandering around the desert for forty years and began to demand that God give them water (Dt. 6:17).  They were testing His promise to care for them, even though He’d done so in great measure up to that point.  

Psalm 78:18 says the Israelites willfully put God to the test, and in the New Testament, as a warning to the Body of Christ, the Apostle Paul warned the Church not to do the same as the Israelites, saying,  “We should not test the Lord, as some of them did – and were killed by snakes.  And do not grumble as some of them did – and were killed by the destroying angel.  These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us…” (1 Cor. 10:9, 10).

For Israel, Jesus and for us, demanding miraculous protection as proof of God’s love and care for us is wrong. So is manipulating His Word to fit a circumstance bathed in rebellion and sin.  As we can see from the Israelites example, testing God is sin, and sin always has consequences; the greatest of which is separation from God. 

Where has the enemy of your soul been tempting you to test God?  Amazingly enough, God is so faithful, that even when we are tempted to test Him, He provides a way for us to escape sin’s magnetic draw and promising illusion.  1 Corinthians 13 says, “…And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”  God’s provision is first and foremost through Jesus’ example:  knowing that He will provide a way out and standing on that truth as Jesus did, using the Word of God as His strength and Defender.