The more I meditated on Psalm 78 the more the Lord continued to reveal to me. Don’t you just love it when you read your Bible and it just comes alive! It is amazing. So as I dove further into the verses I noticed there were three verses that stated that the Israelites tempted God. Verse 18, 41, and 56 all talk about the Israelites tempting God, but each one deals with a different way in which they tempted Him. Verse 18 and following show that the temptation came as a result of them asking for food out of their selfish desires; questioning if God was able to furnish food for them in the wilderness. They questioned His ability.
Verse 41 and following talk about the Israelites not remembering the miracles God had done for them and turned their back on Him and thereby tempted God to anger against them. They forgot what He had already done and were not thankful.
Lastly, verse 56 and following reveal it was the Israelites’ idol worship that tempted God moving Him to jealousy. They turned from Him to other sources of provision, protection, comfort, etc…
This sounds a little familiar to me. There appears to be a progression to their downfall with God. Questioning His ability, forgetting what He had already done for them and not being thankful for it, and turning completely away from Him to other sources. The result of their downfall led to verse 60 where God forsook the tabernacle where He had dwelt among men and never returned to it again.
As I thought back on my own life I can remember many times where this progression has been my mode of operation as well. However I don’t think I realized I was tempting God. It is easy to question if God can or wants to do something when you are faced with a major need. Wondering if God will come through seems a very natural, human thing to do. Unfortunately, this questioning can lead us to forgetting what He had already done and not being thankful.
I think for the most part it is also easy for us to turn from letting God take care of our needs to feeling we have to take care of them on our own. I have even gone so far as to say, God expects me to take care of it. So we come to depend on ourselves or others to meet our needs and in turn miss out on what God wanted to do for us or show us. Thinking of this in terms of tempting God seemed a little foreign to me, so I wanted to dig further into this concept.
I remembered that in Deuteronomy 6:16, God said, “You shall not tempt and try the Lord your God as you tempted and tried Him in Massah.” In order to understand how the Israelites tempted and tried God in Massah we need to go back to Exodus 17: 7. This verse states they were trying the patience of the Lord by asking, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Wow! How many times have I ask the Lord, “Are you really there, do you really care? I have known that throughout the Scriptures the Israelites were known for tempting God, but I never realized the things that they did to tempt God were the very things I could be accused of as well.
As I contemplated my own experiences I came to realize this is not uncommon for me. God blesses me by taking care of a need and I am grateful but a week or so later I find myself needing something else and wondering will God come through this time? So I begin to pray and beg God to take care of the need hoping He will come through again. As I stated earlier in a previous post Gary Morgan talked about this when he said we need to quit using prayer as a place to beg God for something we need. Instead we need to be agreeing with heaven about who God is and what He has already done, knowing that because He came through before He will come through again. God doesn’t want us begging, questioning His love or ability. He wants us agreeing and declaring.
So, apparently questioning God’s abilities and desire to help us; forgetting what He has already done for us and not being thankful; and turning away from Him to other sources to meet our needs are ways we can tempt God. Unfortunately according to these verses tempting God in these ways may lead to Him withdrawing His presence. Being a Christian and not feeling and experiencing the presence of God would be like living in the wilderness without water.
If we are thankful and remember who God has been to us in the past we won’t tend to question his ability and desire to be there for us again. We won’t feel the need to beg Him for what we require, because we will know He will come through again no matter the circumstance. We can agree with heaven and declare the goodness of God over every situation. Being confident in the goodness of God and in His ability will keep us from turning away from Him to other sources, as well as keep us from tempting God.
I want the presence of God to be a constant within my life. These verses show me that if I will be intentional in my pursuit of God, remembering what He has done, thanking Him for being there through my worship and obedience, and allow Him to be my source instead of relying on myself, others or other things; He will be that constant I can depend on.
“Who is like Me? Let Him stand and proclaim it, declare it, and set his proofs in order before Me, since I made and established the people of antiquity. Who has announced from of old the things that are coming? Then let them declare yet future things. Fear not, nor be afraid in the coming violent upheavals; have I not told it to you from of old and declared it? And you are My witnesses! Is there a God besides Me? There is no other Rock; I know not any.” Isaiah 44:7-8 (amplified)
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