Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
To tempt the Lord is to repeat what Israel did at Massah, when thirsting in the desert they questioned whether He was among them after He had already worked marvelously for them. It is the unbelief that doubts Him in trouble and demands evidence of His presence, asking for proof of what He has already declared and for what He has not promised. The command therefore forbids putting His faithfulness, love and preserving care to a needless trial by deliberately leaving the path of obedience and placing oneself in self-chosen peril to force Him to display His power to save. Jesus honored this when He refused at the pinnacle of the temple to throw Himself down to prove His sonship and His claim on divine protection, because God had not told Him to do it and trusting God does not mean provoking Him to prove His care. True faith stands close beside presumption yet does not cross its line, but shows perfect trust without experimenting on providence for a sign, claiming His promises in obedience while staying where He sends and doing only what He allows.
Command and Setting
Deuteronomy 6:16 belongs to Deuteronomy 4-8, which sets out what God required of His ancient people that they might be a holy people to Himself. Those chapters are to be studied and read with profit now because the day of God's great final review is near, when the people of this world must stand before the Judge of all the earth to answer for their deeds. We are now in the present time of investigation, when every character will have been investigated and every case decided for eternity.
In Moses' rehearsal of the law the warning not to test the Lord as Israel did at Massah stands with keeping His commandments, testimonies and statutes, remaining faithful to Him, fearing the Lord, serving Him alone, swearing by His name, and refusing to follow the gods of the surrounding nations and peoples lest His anger destroy them from the land. It is joined to remembering and not forgetting the Lord who brought them out of Egypt when they enter the promised land and have eaten and are full amid cities they did not build, houses full of goods, wells dug, and vineyards and olive trees they did not plant. It requires having His words in the heart, keeping them from every false way, teaching them diligently to children in the house and by the way and at lying down and rising up, binding them as a sign upon the hand and as frontlets between the eyes, and writing them upon the posts and gates.
At Massah Israel thirsted in the desert and in unbelief demanded water with the complaint whether the Lord was among them or not, after He had already worked marvelously for them. To tempt God is that unbelief which doubts Him in trouble and demands evidence of His presence, demanding proof in distrust of what He has already declared and asking Him for what He has not promised. Asking after God has spoken is tempting Him, so for Jesus to seek proof that He was the Son of God after God had testified that He was His Son would have been tempting God, and the command was applied by Him in refusing Satan's demand that He seek proof of His sonship by placing Himself in unbidden danger and requiring God to rescue Him. True trust does not pray to find out whether God will keep His word or whether He loves, but petitions because He will fulfill His word and because He loves, giving an example of trust and submission while still claiming His promises in obedience, for coming to God requires believing that He is and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him.
Trust Without Presumption
To tempt God is to put His faithfulness, love, mercy and preserving care to a needless trial by deliberately placing oneself unbidden in peril and extreme difficulty, even in the enemy's hands, to force Him to display His power to save. Such stepping outside the path of obedience and the path He has chosen, to demand rescue, does not show strength of faith even though God could indeed rescue. Trust in God must not become presumption, for deliberately entering danger and demanding that He intervene is testing Him, not showing faith, and faith does not require testing God by taking an uncommanded risk to force Him to prove His protection. Even in danger a person must not experiment on God's care or demand a display of His power, since confidence in God's promise does not justify putting that promise to a needless test.
God's precious promises are given upon conditions of faith and obedience and do not sustain any rash act, rash self-chosen danger, self-confident exposure disregarding reason, or reliance on a promise while acting presumptuously. To tempt God is to needlessly place oneself in peril where God does not require going, to self-confidently expose oneself to danger disregarding reason, and then expect God to deliver. God will not work a miracle to relieve such presumption and will not send His angels to preserve those who deliberately choose danger, such as placing themselves in fire and expecting not to be burned. Such presumption violates the laws of nature and disregards the prudence and judgment God has given, and God does not have to rescue people from danger they needlessly enter against reason and His direction.
Jesus applied the command in the second temptation when Satan carried Him to a pinnacle of the temple at Jerusalem and urged Him to throw Himself down, misusing the promise of angelic charge to bear Him up. Satan urged this to prove who He was, to prove His sonship and claim on divine protection, to give one more proof of entire dependence on the Father and faith that angels would uphold Him, and to force the Father to intervene. Christ refused because God had not told Him to throw Himself down and He would not act to please Satan, showing that the promise of protection is not for those who willfully venture into danger. Trusting God means following the path of duty, not testing God to prove His care or one's identity, and trusting God does not mean provoking Him to prove His care. Perfect faith and confidence stay inside what the Father commands and never experiment on His faithfulness, love and protecting care at Satan's dare, and to cast Himself down unbidden would have crossed the line from trust to presumption and shown the weakness of His humanity even though God could indeed have borne Him up even in extreme difficulty and peril in the enemy's hands.
To have cast Himself down would have presumed on the Father's mercy and risked life before His appointed work and mission was complete, deviated from God's purpose and jeopardized the plan of salvation. It would have been condescending to the foe He came to conquer and tempting the Lord to display power to His bitterest foe with none but Satan and angels to witness and no glory to the Father. Such a reckless act would not have honored or glorified God. People should not call on God to display His power for personal advantage or to gain victory over enemies and disputed rights unless there is a clear, special object by which God can be directly honored and glorified, and with Christ as example they should bear temptation patiently.
Presumption lies close beside perfect faith and many souls are wrecked on it, because it takes advantage of true trust to cross the line from trust to experimenting on providence at Satan's dare. Keeping the command manifests perfect integrity, faith, confidence and trust in the Father's promised care, and man's only safety in all trials and perils is firm trust and unwavering confidence in God without forcing providence for a sign and without presuming upon His mercy. True prayer petitions because God will fulfill His word and because He loves, not to find out whether He will keep it or whether He loves, giving an example of trust and submission while still claiming His promises in obedience, since coming to God requires believing that He is and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him. After God has spoken, asking for proof of His word is tempting Him, so asking for what He has not promised, or asking for proof of what He has already declared, is the same distrustful testing.
The verse calls for trust joined with obedience in the path of duty: to trust the heavenly Father's care while not going where He does not send and not doing what He has forbidden. It condemns presuming on mercy and forgiveness as safe cover for disobedience, though God forgives all who seek pardon and turn from sin, but He cannot bless those who choose to disobey. Scripture must be used to reject temptation rather than to justify it, and studying and following Scripture fortifies Christians to meet the enemy while neglecting it leads to disaster and defeat.
To tempt the Lord is to repeat what Israel did at Massah, when thirsting in the desert they questioned whether He was among them after He had already worked marvelously for them. It is the unbelief that doubts Him in trouble and demands evidence of His presence, asking for proof of what He has already declared and for what He has not promised. The command therefore forbids putting His faithfulness, love and preserving care to a needless trial by deliberately leaving the path of obedience and placing oneself in self-chosen peril to force Him to display His power to save. Jesus honored this when He refused at the pinnacle of the temple to throw Himself down to prove His sonship and His claim on divine protection, because God had not told Him to do it and trusting God does not mean provoking Him to prove His care. True faith stands close beside presumption yet does not cross its line, but shows perfect trust without experimenting on providence for a sign, claiming His promises in obedience while staying where He sends and doing only what He allows.
Command and Setting
Deuteronomy 6:16 belongs to Deuteronomy 4-8, which sets out what God required of His ancient people that they might be a holy people to Himself. Those chapters are to be studied and read with profit now because the day of God's great final review is near, when the people of this world must stand before the Judge of all the earth to answer for their deeds. We are now in the present time of investigation, when every character will have been investigated and every case decided for eternity.
In Moses' rehearsal of the law the warning not to test the Lord as Israel did at Massah stands with keeping His commandments, testimonies and statutes, remaining faithful to Him, fearing the Lord, serving Him alone, swearing by His name, and refusing to follow the gods of the surrounding nations and peoples lest His anger destroy them from the land. It is joined to remembering and not forgetting the Lord who brought them out of Egypt when they enter the promised land and have eaten and are full amid cities they did not build, houses full of goods, wells dug, and vineyards and olive trees they did not plant. It requires having His words in the heart, keeping them from every false way, teaching them diligently to children in the house and by the way and at lying down and rising up, binding them as a sign upon the hand and as frontlets between the eyes, and writing them upon the posts and gates.
At Massah Israel thirsted in the desert and in unbelief demanded water with the complaint whether the Lord was among them or not, after He had already worked marvelously for them. To tempt God is that unbelief which doubts Him in trouble and demands evidence of His presence, demanding proof in distrust of what He has already declared and asking Him for what He has not promised. Asking after God has spoken is tempting Him, so for Jesus to seek proof that He was the Son of God after God had testified that He was His Son would have been tempting God, and the command was applied by Him in refusing Satan's demand that He seek proof of His sonship by placing Himself in unbidden danger and requiring God to rescue Him. True trust does not pray to find out whether God will keep His word or whether He loves, but petitions because He will fulfill His word and because He loves, giving an example of trust and submission while still claiming His promises in obedience, for coming to God requires believing that He is and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him.
Trust Without Presumption
To tempt God is to put His faithfulness, love, mercy and preserving care to a needless trial by deliberately placing oneself unbidden in peril and extreme difficulty, even in the enemy's hands, to force Him to display His power to save. Such stepping outside the path of obedience and the path He has chosen, to demand rescue, does not show strength of faith even though God could indeed rescue. Trust in God must not become presumption, for deliberately entering danger and demanding that He intervene is testing Him, not showing faith, and faith does not require testing God by taking an uncommanded risk to force Him to prove His protection. Even in danger a person must not experiment on God's care or demand a display of His power, since confidence in God's promise does not justify putting that promise to a needless test.
God's precious promises are given upon conditions of faith and obedience and do not sustain any rash act, rash self-chosen danger, self-confident exposure disregarding reason, or reliance on a promise while acting presumptuously. To tempt God is to needlessly place oneself in peril where God does not require going, to self-confidently expose oneself to danger disregarding reason, and then expect God to deliver. God will not work a miracle to relieve such presumption and will not send His angels to preserve those who deliberately choose danger, such as placing themselves in fire and expecting not to be burned. Such presumption violates the laws of nature and disregards the prudence and judgment God has given, and God does not have to rescue people from danger they needlessly enter against reason and His direction.
Jesus applied the command in the second temptation when Satan carried Him to a pinnacle of the temple at Jerusalem and urged Him to throw Himself down, misusing the promise of angelic charge to bear Him up. Satan urged this to prove who He was, to prove His sonship and claim on divine protection, to give one more proof of entire dependence on the Father and faith that angels would uphold Him, and to force the Father to intervene. Christ refused because God had not told Him to throw Himself down and He would not act to please Satan, showing that the promise of protection is not for those who willfully venture into danger. Trusting God means following the path of duty, not testing God to prove His care or one's identity, and trusting God does not mean provoking Him to prove His care. Perfect faith and confidence stay inside what the Father commands and never experiment on His faithfulness, love and protecting care at Satan's dare, and to cast Himself down unbidden would have crossed the line from trust to presumption and shown the weakness of His humanity even though God could indeed have borne Him up even in extreme difficulty and peril in the enemy's hands.
To have cast Himself down would have presumed on the Father's mercy and risked life before His appointed work and mission was complete, deviated from God's purpose and jeopardized the plan of salvation. It would have been condescending to the foe He came to conquer and tempting the Lord to display power to His bitterest foe with none but Satan and angels to witness and no glory to the Father. Such a reckless act would not have honored or glorified God. People should not call on God to display His power for personal advantage or to gain victory over enemies and disputed rights unless there is a clear, special object by which God can be directly honored and glorified, and with Christ as example they should bear temptation patiently.
Presumption lies close beside perfect faith and many souls are wrecked on it, because it takes advantage of true trust to cross the line from trust to experimenting on providence at Satan's dare. Keeping the command manifests perfect integrity, faith, confidence and trust in the Father's promised care, and man's only safety in all trials and perils is firm trust and unwavering confidence in God without forcing providence for a sign and without presuming upon His mercy. True prayer petitions because God will fulfill His word and because He loves, not to find out whether He will keep it or whether He loves, giving an example of trust and submission while still claiming His promises in obedience, since coming to God requires believing that He is and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him. After God has spoken, asking for proof of His word is tempting Him, so asking for what He has not promised, or asking for proof of what He has already declared, is the same distrustful testing.
The verse calls for trust joined with obedience in the path of duty: to trust the heavenly Father's care while not going where He does not send and not doing what He has forbidden. It condemns presuming on mercy and forgiveness as safe cover for disobedience, though God forgives all who seek pardon and turn from sin, but He cannot bless those who choose to disobey. Scripture must be used to reject temptation rather than to justify it, and studying and following Scripture fortifies Christians to meet the enemy while neglecting it leads to disaster and defeat.