Do Not Put the Lord Your God to the Test

Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test

Luke 4:12

Every time I hear the phrase ‘once bitten twice shy’ I always wonder how I should complete ‘twice bitten’. Moreso because the devil presents a rather awkward scenario of being twice beaten in his attempt to bring Jesus down. Well, maybe his response always provides the response for my ‘twice beaten quest’ When the devil was beaten twice he stood up and approached Jesus with a third temptation. 

Satan took Jesus to a prominent, high place. From this wall surrounding the temple mount, it was hundreds of feet to the rocky valley floor below. From this high point, Satan said to Jesus “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully, they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ (Luke 4:9-11)

This offer is really tempting for two reasons. First, at this time, there was a traditional belief among the rabbis that the Messiah would show Himself to Israel standing on the roof of the temple. If Jesus did what Satan suggested, it would fulfil the Messianic expectation of THE PEOPLE OF Jesus’ day BUT NOT OF GOD. Second is that if Jesus followed Satan’s request to throw himself down from there, it would have been a spectacular event; to survive a fall from that height can only mean one thing ‘You are not human, you’re spirit’ This also drives the narrative of Jesus as the messiah easily. Yet, Jesus refused these ideas because they were not of God. 

“Jesus answered the devil, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” (Luke 4:12). To put the Lord to the test is to act outside of God’s will in the hope that God will still be obligated to save us from the consequence of the action. To paint graphically, it is to disobey traffic rules and somehow hope that God would change the mind of the traffic warden from issuing us a ticket. I’m sure you can fill in the blanks with practical examples from your personal life of how you daily put the Lord your God to the test. Well, the time of ignorance God has overlooked but right now you need to come to repentance before God and stop putting the Lord to the test.

PRAYER