Why do you test the Lord?

Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD? And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? – Exodus 17.2-3

I think there is a reason this Exodus lesson keeps repeating the same thing. It speaks to me every time I read it. I am sure that not everyone faces this battle but I know that I do.

Once again things didn’t go their way. They came to another spot where the water had dried up. Do you think they just trusted God to provide?

Nope – they were angry and they accused Moses of bringing them out just so they would die in the desert. They chided Moses, but he said that they ‘tempted’ the Lord. This hold word ‘tempted’ the Lord is better understood to our ears as ‘tested or proved’ the Lord.

Only once, as far as I know, does God tell us to test Him. That is Malachi where He talks about giving and tells people to give and see if He will provide for them.

But every other time we see people testing God it is by people holding God to their standards. It is like a driving test or a school exam. It is seeing if the testee comes up to the standard of the tester.

That’s fine when it comes to that driving test, but who are we to test God? Who are we to see if He comes up to our standard? God is God and we are feeble self-centred creatures. We don’t get to set the grade scale for God to see if He is worthy of our worship.

He is God. We believe that by faith and we act by faith. He is always due our worship because of who He is. He doesn’t have to pass our tests because He is always right, always good, and always loving. I want to trust Him without testing Him.