Tempt God?

The world sometimes seems like it is spinning out of control. We have periods of prosperity and well-being and then along comes something we can't quite figure out. If we look back into Old Testament times there are plenty of examples of this happening to learn from. The Hebrews trekking across the wildness is a great one.  God supplied the Hebrew's needs time and time again, and yet when something went awry, they threw up their arms in desperation and complained and argued with God. Moses asked them why they were tempting God? If we think of how we use the word 'tempt', we might not understand and we might ask: "How do we tempt God?"

When Jesus was confronted by some formidable situations in the wilderness, the enemy challenged him several times to get him to doubt God. The devil wanted Jesus to worship him. Jesus answered with God's word. Slyly, the adversary responded by challenging him with scripture. 

4 But he  (Jesus) answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee (to keep thee in all thy ways): and in their hands they shall bear thee up, , lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Matthew 4:4-7

Satan quoted this scripture from Psalm 91:10-13.

10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. 11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. Psalm 91:10-13

He omitted the words 'to keep thee in all thy ways'  and he added the words 'at any time' to Psalm 91:6. Not only did the adversary misquote God's word, he changed the meaning slightly especially when he tried to cast doubt using the word 'IF' to start with and the last verse 91:13 he did not quote. 

He tried to provoke Jesus into testing God out. Jesus zeroed in on the enemy's basic problem of challenging God! Tempting, testing and proving God biblically is questioning "Is the Lord among us or not?" (Exodus 17:7) Jesus knew and believed His Father had his back. He did not have to prove it to the devil!

We can do the same in the current crazy times.  We can endure having fear pushed at us by keeping God and his faithfulness in the forefront of our minds.