“Then the devil took [Jesus] to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down. For it is written: “He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”’
“Jesus answered him, ‘It is also written: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”’” (Matthew 4:5-7, NIV)
Not many of us are going to find ourselves in the same position Jesus found himself here. The devil isn’t likely to take us to the top of the Danville Coop (local thing) and suggest jumping to prove God’s power. Even if he did, would you jump? I’d say, “No thanks. I think I’ll use the ladder. Adios, I think you’re gross.”
But there are times when we are tempted to test God, sometimes on the very promise we’ve already covered.
Some folks take God’s promise to provide for our needs to ridiculous extremes.
“God, you’ve promised to meet my needs so here’s what I need.” They have a wish list! And it’s a pricy one! “I need a new car that can accelerate from 0 to 60 in 4.6 seconds. I need a boat for my family to enjoy to your glory on Sunday mornings at the lake. I need a bigger house so I can host bigger parties for my rich believing friends.”
Reasonable requests, right? After all, Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (NIV)
“I’m delighting in God. Where’s my boat? Where’s my car? Where’s my house?”
And what happens when God doesn’t come through? They doubt God’s power and walk away from him He wasn’t what they expected. He didn’t come through.
Or they doubt their own faith and keep praying for ridiculous stuff. That’s what they’ve been encouraged to do by the preachers on TV. “Call your greed faith and get your stuff.” Though that isn’t a direct quote from any faith preacher, faith charlatans make statements every bit as ridiculous as that. “If the Mafia can ride around in Lincoln Continental town cars, why can’t the King’s Kids?” (Fredrick Price as quoted in Christianity in Crisis, p. 191)
Thousands are being taken in by this crazy theology that has no basis whatsoever in Scripture. They put God to the test. They muster all the faith they can. They beg for that new Cadillac. And when God fails to provide, they say, “Phooey on you. You call yourself God. You can’t even answer a simple prayer for a car. Humph!”
They – you if you’re following one of these guys on TV – would do well to hear the Word of the Lord. Here’s what he tells us about his “no” to greedy prayer.
“When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” (James 4:3, NIV)
God will meet our needs. Humbly asking God to meet your needs is not putting God to the test. That shows faith. That shows trust. Testing the Lord is taking his Word and demanding that he do what he says he will do in our way and our timing for our benefit. Testing takes the Bible in hand and shouts at God, “You said you would provide, so hand over my stuff.”
Be sure of this: God is not likely to give in to your demands. He gives grace to the humble, but opposes the proud.
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