Tempting the Lord

"Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God" (Matt. 4: 7).   

Our readers are no doubt quite familiar with the above text, as it is a direct quotation from Dent. 6: 16. The Savior here used it in thwarting the temptations of the devil. If we modernize the language of the text it would read as follows: "Thou shalt not presumptuously test God." There is a world of meaning in these few words. In them lies the why millions of prayers are yet unanswered, numberless sick bodies not healed, and the promises of God doubted and brought into disrepute in every land.

Among the many sins, for which men shall be grievously dealt with at the Judgment Bar, will be the sin of misrepresenting God and placing His word in a false light before men. To give us a full description to what extent this is being done in the world to-day, it would require an infinite mind. Let us notice some of the ways by which people tempt God.

First, for one to venture too near the border line of sin, or to unnecessarily expose himself to temptation, expecting the grace of God to keep him, is downright tempting God. Hundreds of souls have been snared at this point; and after they had gotten into sin, blamed God for not keeping them saved. It is to be remembered that, in order for God to keep us saved, we must cooperate with Him. He will not keep us saved independent of our assistance. We have often heard men, who were saved from drink, testifying how near they could go to the saloon and not suffer any hurt. We did not doubt their testimony; however, we felt like admonishing them to stay as far away from it as possible.

A second way of tempting God is for one to carelessly expose himself to disease, by not using proper caution, or not dressing or eating properly, and at the same time expect God to keep him well, or heal him when he gets sick. When such persons are anointed and prayed for, and fail to get healed, they are led to doubt the promises of God and take issue against divine healing. The thing they should do is to repent and ask God to forgive them for their negligence and carelessness, and then be anointed and prayed for, and He no doubt would heal them.

Third. The next way by which this can be done is for us to pray to God to do what we can do for ourselves. For instance, I get a splinter in my hand which can be easily removed with a needle or a pair of tweezers; for me to leave the splinter in and ask God to make it come out is downright presumption and an act of tempting God. The Bible teaches us very clearly that God will not do for us what we can do for ourselves. Jesus, at the tomb of Lazarus, could have removed the stone, but said, "Take ye away the stone." And after caning Lazarus back to life He could as well have removed the grave-clothes, but He said to those who stood around, "Loose him, and let him go" (John 11:44).

A fourth way in which this can be done is for one to publicly ask the church to pray that God may help him on a certain line, or grant him a certain thing, when at the same time, down in his heart, he is not willing to meet the required conditions by which that thing can be obtained. Therefore, in making such a request a person is guilty of committing two sins: First, he commits sin by causing the pilgrims to lose confidence in the promises of God; for after they have fasted and prayed that he might grant the desired thing, and the individual fails to obtain it, they would be tempted to doubt God's faithfulness in keeping His word; while all along the individual was to blame and not God. Secondly, they commit sin by dissembling and playing the hypocrite in the church of God.

Fifth. Another noticeable way in which this is done is people setting stakes and appointing certain days by which time God is to do this or do that. It is to be kept in mind that we cannot set stakes for God or bring Him to our terms. It is true He has promised in the Bible that He would come to our relief and help us out, but as to when, where and how, He has reserved that to His unerring judgment.

"It may not be in your time

And it may not be in mine;

But in His own appointed time -

The Lord will answer your prayer." 

Sixth. We can tempt God by retaining idols in the trunk and dresser drawers, such as jewelry, fashionable clothing, headgear, lodge regalia, and such things. If it is wrong to wear them, it is equally wrong to harbor and hold on to them. Where is the man or woman to be found who would not object to wife or husband cherishing and holding on to the former lover's love letters

A seventh way of tempting God is sometimes seen at the altar, when workers are praying with souls. They often make such remarks as the following to God: "O Lord, this soul has given up everything; do come and bless him, for you promised to come and bless us when we give up all." These enthused workers seem to forget the fact that the all-wise God knows when a soul has given up all, and is on blessing ground, much better than we do. I shall never forget a backslidden preacher who came to the altar some years ago, and was earnestly praying, weeping and pleading to God for mercy. From all appearances, he was deeply in earnest and had surrendered everything. But the fire would not fall, and all heaven remained silent to his importunate plea. We workers felt a little tried with God because He did not hurry to the relief of this confessing, repenting, weeping, struggling soul. Finally, after an hour's struggle, one of the workers was led to ask him if he belonged to any secret order; and if so, would he give it up Ah! here was the secret of failure. Here was the "Golden Wedge" that was locking the wheel of Zion. He first said, "Yes" faintly, but no fire fell. He repeated it a little stronger, but still no fire fell. He repeated it more loudly yet, but all heaven remained silent. Finally, he screamed at the top of his voice and from the very bottom of his heart, "Ye-s Lord! ! !" Then the heavens were unlocked in an instant, and torrents of fire, glory, and power swept like lightning upon him and all the workers, that almost blest them out of themselves (so to speak).

Lastly, another way by which this can be done is for us, when giving in our testimony at the class or testimony meeting, to complain of not having felt as much of the presence of the Lord, nor realized as much of the help of the Spirit, the past week, as we have heretofore, when at the same time we are aware of the fact that we have not been walking in the light, or taking up our crosses, or strictly obeying the Spirit, as we should have. However, we do not tell this part of it, but only say, "God is not blessing us as of old," and stop there. Hence, we set God in a false light before all the people. We make it appear that He is to blame; which is not true. If we would be honest with God, the people, and our own souls, we would add the following to our testimony: "The reason I am not blessed is this-I have not obeyed the Spirit nor walked in the light as I should, nor as I once did, therefore I am to blame and not God."

O Lord, give us sufficient grace and wisdom that we may not be guilty of the sin of tempting Thee!