MATTHEW 4:5-7 – “Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’””

THEME OF THE DAY: TESTING GOD. In today’s scripture, we are watching the great conflict between Satan and our Lord known as the “Wilderness Temptation.” It is full of instruction for us. Here are a couple lessons we may learn.

First, the battle shows us the malicious and relentless activity of the devil. He is not afraid to do close-in combat with Jesus. If he is that bold against God, he will come to us in like fashion. The Apostle Peter tells us our foe is “like a roaring lion seeking to devour us” (1 Peter 5:8).

Another lesson from our Lord’s battle with the devil is the necessity to be versed in the scriptures so we are able to use them to defeat him in the various ways he attacks us (Ephesians 6:17). Christ quoted specific scriptures to defeat specific attacks by Satan. If the Son of God relied upon the Word in spiritual combat, how much more us fallen people. So don’t neglect reading of the scriptures to arm ourselves for war against the devil. Our lives depend upon it.

There is a third lesson from the second attack of Satan on Jesus. In this one, the devil seeks to get Jesus to presume upon God’s care for Him. Jesus calls this a “testing of God”. When we think about testing, we normally look at it from God to us in the form of trials for us to grow. There are other forms of testing. It is actually us testing God. One is good; the other not so.

A good form of testing is that of the faithfulness of God. In the prophetic book of Malachi, we read the Lord saying, “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need” (Malachi 3:10). What a staggering statement! God invites us to “test” His faithfulness in the area of giving to His work. He wants to prove His faithfulness to us. He invites us to test Him to provide for us when we obey in regards to our giving. And when it comes to giving, exercising faith and giving to the Lord first, our best, and with sacrifice. Don’t start with ourselves. Honor the Lord first, even when it looks like we might not make ends meet, and watch Him pass the “test” of faithfulness to provide for us. This is a good form of testing God. It really is a test for us – to see if we are going to trust the Lord’s promises.

The other form of testing God is not good. It is a test of His patience with us. And how does that happen? In the area of our obedience. Do two things. First, look back over the past week. Recall specific and intentional acts of obedience to known commands. If it is difficult to determine those occasions, then we are testing God’s patience with us in our disobedience. The second thing in determining if our testing of God is not good by trying His patience is to consider how we are developing our relationship with Him. Do we find prayer “alive” basically when we want things from God or need help in a tough situation? What about His Word? Is it mostly read when we want comfort, direction, or out of a sense of duty? If so, we are testing God’s patience. Prayer isn’t first about getting things from God. It is about spending time with Him out of love and desire. And His Word? He gave it to us to know Him. We receive other benefits, but the Bible is foremost about knowing God. Anything short of seeing prayer and the Word as the means to know Him is a testing of His patience as we turn prayer and Bible away from the primary reasons – to know God, not to get things from God. Testing God. It happens. Let’s make sure we do so in a way that will deepen our trust in His faithfulness, not try His patience in our disobedience.

PRAYER: Father, help me to test you by your promises, not your patience.

REFLECTION: God saved us to obey. To neglect obedience is to try the patience of God.