But Israel had much evidence from the past that God was powerful and trustworthy Israel had great promises that the future would be wonderful. Given the lack of water, anyone’s natural reaction would be to worry. Israel’s reaction might seem perfectly reasonable. They were in the middle of the wilderness, and they had no water. He promised them all the blessings of Abraham He promised to take them to a land of peace and abundance. God also had promised to do great things in their future. He saved them miraculously out of Egypt He parted the red sea He sent them manna to eat. Israel had seen God do great things in the past. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water that we may drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But the people thirsted there for water and they grumbled against Moses and said, “Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” …And he named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us, or not?” (Exodus 17:1-7) Then…the sons of Israel…camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. Jesus quotes Moses from Deuteronomy 6:16: “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah.” What does Moses mean by “putting the Lord to the test?” In order to understand this verse, we must go back and look at what happened at Massah. In this case, we must ask the question, “Why is jumping off a temple like grumbling about water?”

To understand the lesson as Jesus sees it, we must find that parallel. Jesus clearly sees a parallel between the lessons Israel learned in the wilderness and His own experience, between their temptations and His own. Moses delivered this sermon to Israel after their wandering in the wilderness for forty years. In each of His three temptations, Jesus quotes from the same sermon in Deuteronomy. To understand the issue as Jesus sees it, we must understand the Scripture He quotes in response to the temptation. Then the devil took Him into the holy city and he had Him stand 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 give His angels charge concerning You’ and ‘On their hands they will bear You up, lest You strike Your foot against a stone.'” Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'” (Matthew 4:5-7)Īt first glance, the lesson of this temptation may seem to be nothing more than “Don’t try to make God do tricks for you.” Speaking for myself, I am not tempted to throw myself off skyscrapers expecting God to catch me. We will examine one of those temptations here, to use Jesus’ response as a model for our own. Even Jesus confronted this question when Satan tempted Him three times in the wilderness. Raising the question is part of our learning process. God has an agenda for His people, and high on the list is His intention that each of us confront the issue of God’s character. That we ask such questions is not surprising in fact, the Bible tells us that our troubles are intended to raise such questions. If God wants me to trust Him, maybe He had better start by improving the way He directs the course of my life. We are tempted to charge God with neglect and even hostility. Hard times seem to offer strong evidence that God is not on our side.

Is God doing right by me? Most of us will ask ourselves this question sooner or later.

2022 Summer Institute: Stories of Conversion.

2022 Education Conference: Learning for Life.

Mission & Philosophy of Education Statement.

I am god i am satan i am jesus christ