Do not Test God by Insisting He Does Something Spectacular
Do not Test God by Insisting He Does Something Spectacular
Zac Poonen | 2nd February 2025
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In the second temptation in the wilderness, Satan said to Jesus, “If You're the Son of God, why don't You just throw Yourself down from the top of the temple and claim the promise of God?” (Matthew 4:6) He even quoted Psalm 91, “He will give his angels charge concerning you; in their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.” In Matthew 4:7, Jesus replied, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” This is a very important principle. How does this apply in practical terms? Here the temptation to Jesus was to jump off the roof of the temple, claim the promise in Psalm 91, and descend to the courtyard of the temple unhurt so that people will see and exclaim, “Oh, what a great man of God! Look at His faith, how He claimed that promise and was not hurt.” And Jesus said, “I will not tempt God like that.” When there are stairs provided from the roof of the temple to go down, there is no need to jump off. The meaning of Jesus's refusal is that we can use means that God has provided and not tempt God by asking Him to do something for us in some spectacular way. For example, in Acts 8:39, we read of an instance where, after Philip had preached to the eunuch, the Holy Spirit snatched Philip up and transported him all the way to another place called as Azotus. The Holy Spirit gave him an airlift like a helicopter would today. Now, if you want to go from one place to another place, and you try to tempt God saying, “Do that for me Lord,” that is tempting God. If God has provided buses, trains, scooters, and airplanes, why do we need to ask the Holy Spirit to take us like that?
“God does certain things for certain people. He doesn't perform every miracle for every believer.”
Another way to tempt God is to try and claim a promise so that I can perhaps testify later of a spectacular thing God did for me. For example, there are people who, when they are sick, say, “I am going to trust God to heal me even though medicines are available on the next street and there are doctors available to advise us. We do not use those doctors and those medicines.” And there are many foolish Christians who have died like that or allowed their children to die and their wives to die, because they try to claim a promise that “the Lord is my Healer, and so I don't need medicine.” When God has provided stairs in the temple, He expects you to use them instead of trying to jump off the roof and claiming Psalm 91. Similarly, when God has provided medicines, He expects you to use them and not foolishly claim some promise that the Lord will heal you. It is as foolish as trying to ask the Lord to transport you from one place to another like He did with Philip.
We also must remember that God does certain things for certain people. He does not perform every miracle for every believer. We need to be very careful in studying the Scriptures that we are not trying to do something spectacular in order to get some honor for ourselves. The desire for honor from men is so deeply rooted in our flesh, but sometimes we are not even aware of it. It is one of the great things that Jesus taught His disciples to battle against. Here the basic temptation was to get honor, to claim God's promise and descend unhurt to the courtyard of the temple and people will acclaim you.
But the temptation can come in less spectacular ways, too. Jesus said in Matthew 6, "When you pray, do not pray in such a way as to get honor from the men who are listening to you praying, and do not fast and inform everybody how many days you've fasted for." If you do that, it is to get honor. He also said, “When you give, do not let anybody know what you gave.” Yet many Christians have disobeyed these commands, seeking honor and tempting God.