“Don’t test God”

Read Luke 4:9-13

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The third test (in Luke; the second in Matthew) also challenged the truth of Jesus’s Sonship. It would have been a spectacular and impressive miracle but more than that it would prove for sure that Jesus really was God’s Son, by compelling God to act to save him just as he has promised (Psalm 91:11-12). But that would have been to test God just as Israel had done in the wilderness.

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So once again Jesus replied by referring to Israel’s wilderness experience: “Do not test the Lord your God as you did at Massah” (Deut.6:16). Massah was where Moses had brought water from the rock, in response to the people’s demand (Exod.17:1-7). It was a miracle with an unhappy outcome, rooted in the doubt, “Is the Lord among us or not?” (17:7; Ps.95:8-11).

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Jesus refused to manipulate God by pushing him into an action not of his choosing. Instead, he trusted in his Father and in what his Father had said. Putting God to the test by artificially creating a crisis is very different from praying with faith for God’s help when problems arise. Note that this was not the end of his testing (13). There is no freedom from temptation in this life. But like Jesus we too can overcome it (Heb.2:18; 1 Cor.10:13).