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The Temptation to Test God
When have you realized “looking for a sign” was not such a great idea after all?
THE POINT
We can trust God
without putting Him to the test.
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
I was in elementary school when central air conditioning units were finally installed throughout the school. My family had not been in the United States very long, and I couldn’t speak English very well. I was new, but I already had a crush on a girl in my class.
For some reason the idea came into my head to ask God for a sign so that I could know if this girl liked me. The sign I chose? Because the AC unit was on a thermostat, it would turn on and off automatically, so I wanted the AC to come on just at the moment I predicted. I closed my eyes and waited and waited and waited, then I said, “NOW.” Nothing happened. Being determined, I tried again. Again, nothing happened.
We can still be tempted to do the same as adults and put God to the test. But because God is faithful, we don’t need to put Him to the test. We simply need to trust Him and ask Him for what we need.
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
Matthew 4:5-7
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will give his angels orders concerning you, and they will support you with their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” 7 Jesus told him, “It is also written: Do not test the Lord your God.”
When we’re afraid, we often long for God’s presence and protection. Satan would like nothing more than to use those fears to undermine our faith in God. This is what Satan attempted with his second temptation directed at Jesus.
With the first temptation, Satan tried in vain to get Jesus to question God’s provision. With this second temptation, Satan was tempting Jesus about God’s presence and protection. Forty days before this temptation, John the Baptist had baptized Jesus. At that baptism, God the Father spoke audibly and declared, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased” (Matt. 3:17). Jesus had no reason to doubt the Father and His care for Him, but Satan was going to try.
With the first temptation, Jesus responded by quoting Scripture. Now Satan tried using Scripture to his own advantage. Satan knows Scripture well, and he knew Jesus had come to save His people from their sins and bring them back to God. So, Satan quoted from Psalm 91, a psalm about God’s protection over His people.
This was not the first time Satan tried to manipulate a word from God. He did the same with Adam and Eve in the garden: “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Gen. 3:1b). Satan used God’s words, but also distorted them. As Satan did with Adam, Eve, and Jesus, he’ll do with us: manipulate and distort Scripture. Satan uses people to twist Scripture and lead God’s people astray.
Question 2:
When might we be most tempted to test God?
Satan used Psalm 91:11-12 to challenge Jesus to put God to the test. If Jesus jumped off the top of the temple, which represented God’s presence among His people, the Father would rescue Him in front of the people gathered there, and they would see clearly that He is the Messiah. If Jesus wanted to be recognized as Messiah, this was a quick and easy way to make it happen. But Jesus didn’t need a test to prove God’s faithfulness, nor would He shortcut the path laid out by the Father’s will.
Jesus responded to this temptation by quoting Scripture. In the next section, we’ll look closely at the passage Jesus quoted, but Jesus acted on the command in Deuteronomy 6 not to test the Lord. Jesus didn’t need to, because He knew that God was with Him. He didn’t need to prove that to Himself, and He would follow the Father’s will in how He would reveal Himself to others.
Question 3:
How have you seen a misapplication of Scripture lead people astray?
Deuteronomy 6:16-19
16 “Do not test the Lord your God as you tested him at Massah. 17 Carefully observe the commands of the Lord your God, the decrees and statutes he has commanded you. 18 Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that you may prosper and so that you may enter and possess the good land the Lord your God swore to give your ancestors, 19 by driving out all your enemies before you, as the Lord has said.”
Israel had no reason to put God to the test. So, as God prepared the second generation to go into the promised land, He reminded them once again of His promise of provision. God would bring them into “a land with large and beautiful cities that you did not build, houses full of every good thing that you did not fill them with, cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant” (Deut. 6:10-11).
God promised all this to their parents, the first generation that left Egypt for God’s promised land, but they put God to the test because they failed to believe. The Lord reminded them of one such moment in their history when they had camped at Rephidim on their way to Mount Sinai (Ex. 17:1-7). Despite all the signs and wonders they witnessed God perform against Egypt (7:14–12:30), despite watching God destroy the Egyptian army at the Red Sea (14:26-28), despite the manna God provided (16:1-15), they still complained to Moses that they had no water to drink. They became so distraught, they wondered if God brought them out of slavery in Egypt just to kill them with thirst in the wilderness (Ex. 17:3).
Engage
TEST OR TRUST?
Complete the statements below that reflect testing or trusting God in each potential crisis.
Health Crisis
Test: If God wants me to trust Him in this, then He better …
Trust: I choose to trust God in this because He …
Financial Crisis
Test: If God wants me to trust Him in this, then He better …
Trust: I choose to trust God in this because He …
Family Crisis
Test: If God wants me to trust Him in this, then He better …
Trust: I choose to trust God in this because He …
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will place my Spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes and carefully observe my ordinances.”
God had already performed miracle after miracle in His care and provision for the Israelites, yet they failed to believe God could provide them with water. How many more signs would they need? What else would God have to do? They expected God to prove Himself one more time by providing water. They put God to the test. They could’ve trusted God to provide water in His own way, say through natural springs and a well, but instead they demanded God do the miraculous.
The command for us is simple: don’t test, but instead, trust. Immediately after the command, “Do not test,” the Israelites were told to “carefully observe the commands of the Lord your God. . . . Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight.” God wants to bless us, as He wanted to bless the Israelites, but we can only experience those blessings as we trust Him and obey His word. No test is necessary when we’re living fully in obedience to Him.
Question 4:
How does an obedient faith keep us from testing God?
Deuteronomy 6:20-25
20 “When your son asks you in the future, ‘What is the meaning of the decrees, statutes, and ordinances that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ 21 tell him, ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand. 22 Before our eyes the Lord inflicted great and devastating signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his household, 23 but he brought us from there in order to lead us in and give us the land that he swore to our ancestors. 24 The Lord commanded us to follow all these statutes and to fear the Lord our God for our prosperity always and for our preservation, as it is today. 25 Righteousness will be ours if we are careful to follow every one of these commands before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’ ”
Not only were the Israelites to be faithful and obedient to God, but they were also to teach their children to do the same. If they wanted their children to experience God’s goodness and faithfulness, they must teach them to keep the covenant. They were to teach them God’s Word. This is what Moses had told them earlier: “These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children” (Deut. 6:6-7a).
But it wasn’t enough for the children and succeeding generations to know what to do; they needed to know why they were doing it. The “why” motivates the “what”! Tradition is often viewed in a bad light, but tradition can be a vital part of the Christian faith. The danger with tradition is when we do things simply because it is tradition, and we’ve lost the meaning and significance of how that became a tradition to begin with. As one generation hands down truths and practices to the next generation, it’s important to also hand down the “why” of those practices.
We’re not Israel under the old covenant, but we serve the same God. Their history is a part of our history. The story of redemption was carried out completely in Christ; God established a new covenant through the blood of His Son. One of the glorious promises of the new covenant that Jesus established by His blood is a new heart and God’s indwelling Spirit.
Jesus kept the law for us. He died for us. He rose again. He forgives. He gives new life. In every step along the way, it is God who took the initiative. How do we respond to this great deliverance? The Israelites were to respond to God’s work for them with obedience and fear, submission and trust. It’s the same for us.
Question 5:
What’s an example of obedience to God’s commands producing goodness in your life?
LIVE IT OUT
We can trust God without putting Him to the test. Choose one of the following applications:
Confess. If there are areas of your life where you live with uncertainty and are tempted to put God to the test, confess that as wrong. Acknowledge that you don’t need to act in a way that tries to “force” God to act in the way you want Him to act. Ask God to help you simply trust Him.
Memorize. Choose a verse or two that emphasizes the value of trusting God and memorize them. Here’s an example: “You will keep the mind that is dependent on you in perfect peace, for it is trusting in you” (Isa. 26:3).
Challenge. If you know someone who is presuming upon God to act in a way that justifies his or her actions, challenge this person to see why Jesus wouldn’t put God to such a test. Encourage this person to trust God to work in His own perfect way and in His timing.
There are many ways people put God to the test, from the silly to the serious. But there’s no reason for us to give in to the temptation to test God. When we look at all He has done for us through Jesus, we can trust that He is there, He takes care of us, and His plans are the best for us. We experience God’s goodness and faithfulness as we obey His Word.
Teacher's Notes:
Last Week:
This Week:
Sometimes the way ahead can be so challenging that we’ll look for another way around our circumstances — even if it means twisting the truth to get there. We might even justify our path by thinking it leads to the same place, anyway, even asking God to bless it. That’s testing God and it’s not God’s way. Often God’s plan is for us to take that difficult path, but it’s during those journeys that we are molded and shaped to be more like Christ.
What
does it mean to test God?
In the Bible, there are examples of both an
acceptable and unacceptable kind of testing God. It’s acceptable to “test” God
in regard to tithes and offerings, for example, but unacceptable when the test
is rooted in doubt.
Malachi 3:10 says,
“‘Bring the
whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house. Test me
in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the
floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room
enough to store it.’” This is the only situation given in the Bible in which
God tells His people to “test” Him. Interestingly, the Hebrew word used for
“test” in this verse is bachan, which means “to examine, scrutinize, or
prove (as in gold, persons, or the heart).” Just as gold is “tested” with fire
to prove its quality, God invites Israel to test Him in tithes and offerings
and see that He proves His faithfulness in response.
Bachan
Examine, scrutinize, or prove as in gold, persons, or the
heart.
God invites Israel to test Him in tithes and offerings and
see that He proves His faithfulness in response.
There is
another Hebrew word for “test” used elsewhere in the Bible. Nacah means
“to put to the test, try, or tempt.” It is used in Deuteronomy 6:16, where God
commands Israel to not test Him: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test as
you did at Massah.”
Nacah
To put to the test, try, or tempt.
An unacceptable kind of testing is when doubt leads us to demand
something of God to prove Himself to us.
Satan
tempts Jesus to see if he could lead Jesus to test God at the point of His
Word.
He quotes Psalm 91:11-12
For he will
command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift
you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
God’s word
does state a promise of God’s protection to those who are in His care. However,
the devil distorts the context. The psalmist was referring to those who stumble
and fall, not those who deliberately jump from something and dare God to take
care of them. Such is not faith in God; it is utter foolishness.
We can be tempted to test God for our own
purposes.
Let’s read…
Deuteronomy 6:16-19
“Do not
test the Lord your God as you tested him at Massah. Carefully observe the
commands of the Lord your God, the decrees and statutes he has commanded you.
Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that you may prosper and so
that you may enter and possess the good land the Lord your God swore to give
your ancestors, by driving out all your enemies before you, as the Lord has
said.”
This
second, unacceptable kind of testing is when doubt leads us to demand something
of God to prove Himself to us. Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:16 in the wilderness,
in response to one of Satan’s temptations. “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”’” (Matthew 4:7–10).
Essentially, the devil was telling Jesus to “prove” God’s Word was true by
forcing God’s hand—if Jesus was in peril, God would have to save Him. Jesus
refused to test God in such a way. We are to accept God’s Word by faith,
without requiring a sign (see Luke 11:29). God’s promises are there for us when
we need them; to manipulate situations in an attempt to coerce God into
fulfilling His promises is evil.
The
occasion where the Israelites tested God at Massah is found in Exodus 17. As
God was leading Moses and His people toward the Promised Land, they camped at a
place where there was no water. The Israelites’ immediate reaction was to
grumble against God and quarrel with Moses (Exodus 17:1–3). Their lack of trust
in God to take care of them is evident in their accusations toward Moses: “They
said, ‘Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and
livestock die of thirst?’” (Exodus 17:3). The Israelites were obviously in a
situation where they needed God to intervene. The point at which they tested
God, though, is when doubt and fear overtook them and they came to the
conclusion that God had abandoned them (see Exodus 17:7). They questioned God’s
reliability because He was not meeting their expectations.
The command
here for us is simple: don’t test, but instead, trust.
The difference between these two kinds of
testing God is faith. “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and the
assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). The Israelites at Massah
tested God because they lacked faith in Him. The Israelites in Malachi’s day
were invited to test God because they had faith in Him.
Faith, by
definition, takes risk. When true faith is present, obedience follows. It is
that faith-inspired action of obedience that God loves. As seen in the example
of Israel’s tithes and offerings, when we give out of our faith in who God is,
He proves Himself to be faithful. By contrast, when we view God through our
doubt and demand something of Him as a way of determining whether or not He can
be trusted, we’re in danger of testing God (see Mark 8:11–12).
The temptation Jesus faced was to test God.
He refused
because doing so was not the kind of relationship He had with His Father, whom
He trusted. Such is to be our relationship with God as well. Rather than test
Him, we trust Him. However, at least one time the Lord invited the faithful to
“prove me now herewith” (Mal. 3:10). Other translations render the word prove
(bahan) as “test” (CSB, ESV, NIV). The difference is significant.
· Testing God with complaining, rebellion, and
unbelief as Israel did at Massah and Meribah (Ex. 17:1-7; Deut. 6:16; Ps. 95:8-9)
is a sin against God.
· Testing or proving His faithfulness with our
obedience is a way in which we see His authenticity as the Lord God.
Deuteronomy 6:20-25
“When your
son asks you in the future, ‘What is the meaning of the decrees, statutes, and
ordinances that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ tell him, ‘We were slaves
of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand.
Before our eyes the Lord inflicted great and devastating signs and wonders on
Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his household, but he brought us from there in
order to lead us in and give us the land that he swore to our ancestors. The
Lord commanded us to follow all these statutes and to fear the Lord our God for
our prosperity always and for our preservation, as it is today. Righteousness
will be ours if we are careful to follow every one of these commands before the
Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’”
Not only were
the Israelites to be faithful and obedient to God, but they were also to teach
their children to do the same. If they wanted their children to experience
God’s goodness and faithfulness, they must teach them to keep the covenant.
They were to teach them God’s Word.
The
Bible gives us examples of acceptable and unacceptable ways of testing God.
Many times,
we test God because we doubt Him. A test rooted in unbelief is unacceptable.
Like Israel, like Jesus, you and I are on a
journey much like their journey through the wilderness:
· We can look back at God’s kindness in the past.
Each of us has personal ways that God has blessed us in this life. Most
importantly, we have the Bible to tell us of God’s great love demonstrated on
the cross of Christ. We can’t emphasize this enough. No greater act of love has
ever been committed than Jesus’ death on the cross for us. We have every reason
to believe in God’s goodness towards us.
· We have great promises from God about the
future. God’s people have been promised an eternal life of righteousness. What
is more valuable in the world? The people of God have a great destiny.
Today our present circumstances are sometimes
difficult. We suffer. We struggle with sin. We let each other down. Life can be
painful, difficult, and disappointing. We are often led to ask: “Why has God
brought me here?”
Moses tells us – Jesus tells us – that we must
not put God to the test. To test God means much more than trying to get Him to
do a miracle; to test God is to insist that He prove that He is trustworthy. To
test God is to look at today’s difficulties and say, “A loving God would never
let me suffer in this way. Maybe if things get better, then I can trust Him.”
To test God is to ask, as Israel did, “Is God with us or not?” God has shown us
that He is with us; He has nothing to prove to us. If we refuse to see it, we
are as blind as Israel was in the wilderness.
Israel and
Jesus were not in the wilderness by accident; God led them there. Neither is it
an accident when life pushes hard at believers today. We can, if we choose,
interpret our troubles as evidence of God’s indifference. We would be wrong.
Because God loves us, He uses our troubles to confront us with the spiritual
issues we would rather ignore. Our eternal destiny is riding on the choices we
are making today: will we trust God in the midst of our troubles, or will we
put Him to the test?
Conclusion
To test God
overlooks His past faithfulness and dares Him to act in defense of His
holiness. Jesus would not dare do that by jumping from a pinnacle and daring
God to rescue Him. Jesus’ mission was to bring glory to His Father but not
through spectacular events but through faithful obedience to His calling.
WE CAN TRUST GOD WITHOUT PUTTING HIM TO THE TEST.
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