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

What does it mean to tempt the Lord? Is it something of which we can be guilty?

The children of Israel tempted the Lord when they complained about the lack of water in the wilderness (Exodus 17:7). In saying, "Is the Lord among us, or not?" they doubted not only His divine presence but His providential care for them as well.

Satan tempted the Lord when he challenged Him to jump down from the peak of the Temple (Lu. 4:9-12). Jesus would have tempted God the Father if He had done so, because He would have been performing a stunt, something that was outside the Father's will.

The Pharisees tempted the Lord when they asked Him if it was lawful to pay tribute to Caesar (Matthew 22:15-18). They thought that no matter how He answered, He would alienate either the Romans or those Jews who were violently anti-Roman.

Sapphira tempted the Spirit of the Lord by pretending to give the total proceeds from a sale of property to the Lord, when actually she held back some for herself (Acts 5:9).

Peter told the council at Jerusalem that it would be tempting God to put Gentile believers under the law, a yoke that the Jewish people themselves had not been able to bear (Acts 15:10).

To tempt God is "to see how much one can get away with before He judges; it means to presume on Him, to see if He will perform His Word, or to stretch Him to the limits of judgment (cf. Deuteronomy 6:16; Matthew 4:7)" (Toussaint). We tempt God when we murmur or complain, because we are, in effect, doubting His presence, power or goodness. We are saying that He doesn't know our circumstances, He doesn't care, or He isn't able to deliver us.

We tempt God when we needlessly expose ourselves to danger and expect Him to rescue us. Every so often we read of misguided believers who handle poisonous snakes and die as a result. Their reasoning was that God had promised safety in Mark 16:18; "They shall take up serpents." But this was intended to justify our performing miracles only when they are necessary in carrying out His will in and through us.

We tempt God when we lie to Him, and we do this when we profess greater dedication, sacrifice and commitment than we actually intend to deliver. Just as the Pharisees tempted Christ by their hypocrisy, so we tempt Him by ours.

Finally, we tempt the Lord whenever we remove ourselves from the sphere of His will for us and act in self-will.

It is an astounding thing that a creature should ever desire or dare to tempt his Creator, or that a sinner should thus insult his Savior!