putting God to the test

In the wilderness Satan tempted Jesus to jump off the pinnacle of the Temple, since God had promised that he would send his angels to rescue his servant, so that none of them would dash their foot against a stone. I know Jesus was going through the same temptations as Israel of old, but unlike them, he was succeeding as the true Israelite, the unique son of God. At the same time we in Jesus live in many ways parallel to his days then. Notice Jesus' answer: "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" (from Deuteronomy 6:16)

We are all tempted, and sometimes we think it's okay to give in in little ways. We know God is a god of grace and there is always forgiveness, and that no matter what we do, God has promised never to leave us nor forsake us (though we very well, in our sin, may be leaving him). And somehow we believe that we need something that God has not given us. So that in effect we are doubting God's goodness and provision for us.

But the heads up here is that we must beware of putting God to the test. We can test and try God by our sin. When we make decisions that are questionable at best we do what Jesus refused to do: we jump off the high place and think there will be little or no consequences. God may give us what we want, but send judgment or discipline on us because he wants us to repent.

In what ways might we be putting God to the test? Is it presumptive on our part to assume that God will bless our disobedience, even in little things? Do we see that when we do this we are in effect doubting God's goodness and provision to us?

in the low places

In spiritual warfare we're often unaware of the dangers that beset us. The harm to our inner person that can come when we yield to that which is wrong, or fail to follow God's way.

For some reason, yesterday I spent a lot of time in Psalm 31, particularly in these verses. I was thinking of the scene in The Passion of the Christ, of Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane, and being tempted by the devil there, and uttering petitions to his Father, probably from the words of this psalm, "Shelter Me, O, Lord. I trust in you. In you I take refuge."

The time was not an easy one for Jesus in the garden. Do we have our times which though they cannot come close to plumbing the depths of Jesus' experience, still are most difficult? I do.

I am thankful that we have that part of Psalm 31 I was dwelling on, all of Psalm 31, the rest of the psalms, and all of Scripture. We need it all, because we can't live in the low places too long. But we need to be open to what God may be trying to do, or teach us in those "places" during that time. We need also to remember that change by its very nature comes often with tremendous difficulty. For a good number of reasons.

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when on the brink

There are times in our lives when it seems all is crowding in on us and we're about ready to be thrown over some kind of cliff. Yesterday for a time that seemed to be the case for me. By faith I hung in there, and soon was experiencing the consolation and help of the Lord, and the word was alive on the pages of the psalms, specifically Psalm 139.

Too often during my life I've tried to manage living on the brink. Trying somehow to get myself out of it, but failing in the process to really trust the Lord. I think we need to learn to take baby steps of faith, committing ourselves into the Lord's hands by prayer and by waiting on him. And as we learn to trust the Lord, we can end up both being a witness as people of faith, as well as growing through the trial ourselves. Of course quite often a large part of our trials come from our own struggles (sometimes sinful) within. God permits the difficulties to come so that we can learn to trust him in them and find his salvation in those places. But we must beware of thinking we'll ever be above encountering such trials in this life. Yet at the same time we can be assured that God will make us stronger through them.

What about trials in your life? What do you do when you feel like your on the brink or the edge?

do not be discouraged

It is easy to become discouraged when we see in ourselves things that shouldn't be. Perhaps in wrong attitudes or struggles from temptations, or whatever it may be. God tells us in his word, by the Story, not to be discouraged. Why? Because of his grace to us in Jesus.

The journey of our lives is ongoing and in that journey there is God at work in us to change us by grace, for our good and for his glory. As Christians or those on whom God is working, we can be quite sensitive to our sins and sometimes down over the temptations we encounter. Of course temptation is a part of life, though we can lessen them to some extent by not letting ourselves be exposed to that which we know is likely to bring some temptations on. In my life it's not so much a matter of avoiding those kind of things as it is about filling my life with the good things of God found in Jesus and from God's word, Scripture.

Our journey in this life is partly about being changed from glory to glory into the resemblance of Jesus. In ourselves we see blotches on that, and we can therefore be tempted to just give up and throw in the towel, giving in to something far lesser or even abandoning the journey altogether. But we must not think or act in this way.

Instead we must see our lives as in part, God's good work in Jesus, which he will carry on to completion the rest of our days in this present life, to be completed at the unveiling of Jesus in his second coming at the resurrection, when the new creation in Jesus is completed. We in Jesus will all be a part of that. Let's be those who keep on keeping on in the grace of God we find in Jesus.

What would you like to add to this?