Tempting God?

Tempting God?

Can we really tempt God? I found this study very fascinating!

Psalms 95:7 and 8 says, "To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness." There's the day of temptation. But who is being tempted? Verse 9 gives the answer:

"When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work." Here it is God being tempted! Amazing!

Deuteronomy 6:16 says, "Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah." Here again we see that the people were tempting God. What does this mean? Let's keep going.

Hebrews 3:7-10 says, "Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways."

This is almost identical to what we read from Psalms 95:8, 9! The people were tempting God, proving Him and testing Him through their complaining. There we have it! Complaining tempts God! This is how they were tempting God!

God's people were to be always filled with gratitude, but the mixed multitude around God's people were always filled with murmuring. Which class do we fall into?

What does the Bible say about complaining / tempting God?

1 Corinthians 10:9-13 says, "Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

Because the people were murmuring and complaining against God, He sent the fiery serpents for them to realize that they were more blessed than they thought. And all those experiences happened to them for examples to us! Thus meaning, we must be careful not to complain lest the "fiery serpents" get sent into our lives also! :(

So complaining is equivalent to tempting God! And yet how often do we find ourselves murmuring and complaining about all kinds of things!

Matthew 4:7 says, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." So we should not be tempting God by our complaining. But oh how we love complaining!!

And the children of Israel were always complaining too! Ex. 17:7 says, "And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?"

Patriarchs and Prophets, page 292 says, "The Lord permitted difficulties to surround them, and their supply of food to be cut short, that their hearts might turn to Him who had hitherto been their Deliverer. If in their want they would call upon Him, He would still grant them manifest tokens of His love and care."

God permits difficulties to come to us so that we may turn to Him and yet so often when these difficulties come, we are ready to complain and murmur against God Himself!

There is always a penalty for tempting God - complaining. The children of Israel were overcome by their enemies after complaining, they experienced the deadly bites of the fiery serpents and much more! It's really not worth it to tempt God!

Here's a chart.

Testimonies, Volume 4, page 610 says, "It is the worst phase of selfishness to fret and censure and complain..."

As a man thinks, so is he. If you think grumpy thoughts, you'll be grumpy and you'll also be ugly! A grumpy person is not a pretty picture!

And the problem is that complaining is a contagious disease! "The breath of doubt, of complaint and unbelief, is contagious...." Selected Messages, Volume 2, page 166. So when we are complaining, we are influencing others to complain too and thus tempt God all the more.

So what is the cure for our disease of complaining?

1. Look for the blessings in disguise. There is always a rainbow behind the storm!

2. Look to Jesus (Heb. 12:2)

As we focus on the positive things and look to Jesus, we will not find reasons to complain or tempt God!

There are actually two things that will shake God's people right out of the church at the very end:

1. False doctrine (and there's plenty of that even today!)

2. Complaining and criticizing (even if what they say is true)

Focusing on the negative never leads to happiness! It only results in misery and finally judgment from God for tempting Him.

I don't want to tempt God anymore, do you? Let's resolve from today onwards, no more tempting God! May He help us!