"Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God"
Deuteronomy 6 v 16
The word " tempt " here means to try, test God's patience. How did Israel and how can we tempt God?
- By doubting God's presence with us and His power to help us. God was continually with Israel night and day, yet they cried "Is the Lord among us, or not?” (Exodus 17 v 7). We as believers in Christ are really trying God when we act as if God isn't with us, when He has said He will never leave or forsake us.
- By rebelling against God's authority. We as believers do this when we refuse to submit to God's will as if we know better than Him. Also, when we disobey His commands because they don't suit us or we think it's going to be costly to obey them.
- By our provocation of God. We as believers provoke God by longing for the things and pleasures of the world and so behave as if Christ cannot satisfy as the world can.
We should be careful because God said of Israel in Numbers 14 v 22 that they, "Tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice". God wasn't unconcerned about their behaviour and had to ultimately deal with them as we see in verse 23.