YE SHALT NOT TEMPT THE LORD YOUR GOD

As Moses gave this commandment he recalled the incident recorded in Exodus chapter 17 verses 1-7 when Israel did tempt God. The people had come to Rephidim and found there was ‘no water … to drink’, even though they were journeying ‘accord­ing to the commandment of the Lord’, v. 1. In light of all they had seen and experienced of God’s help and blessing, their deliver­ance from Egypt, the pillar of cloud and the provision of manna, we might have anticipated they would immediately look to God for help. Instead, they chided with Moses and tempted the Lord, vv. 2, 7.

Verse 7 indicates how they tempted the Lord, by saying ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’ Despite all that He had done for them, as soon as a problem arose they began to question whether He was among them or not. The inference being that if He was then surely He would have immediately removed the difficulty. In speaking thus they were putting God to the test, placing Him in a position where He would need to demonstrate He was with them before they would believe it.

In like manner when the Lord Jesus was tempted by the devil He was being exhorted to test God. The Lord had just said ‘Man shall not live by bread alone’, Matt. 4. 4. The devil challenged Him to prove it by casting Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, confident that no harm would befall Him according to the promise of God’s word, Matt. 4. 5-6. The Lord’s reply ‘Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God’ had a two-fold signifi­cance. As to the Lord Jesus Himself, He had no doubt regarding the presence of God with Him, Matt. 3. 17, and would not tempt God by placing Him in a position where He would need to dem­onstrate it, lest His Person or word be discredited. Then the Lord’s answer was also an assertion of His own deity, a direct address to the devil himself, a reminder that in tempting Christ he was tempting the Lord his God.

When problems come, instead of looking in faith to God to meet our need, do we begin to murmur and question whether He is with us, whether He cares. Do we begin to tempt God, requir­ing that He do something if we are to continue to trust in Him?