Testing God

Acts 15:10 “Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? “

When the news salvation to the gentiles has arrived to Jerusalem, the sect of the Pharisees had raised concerns about gentiles to come to Judaism through circumcision. Peter addressed them with this statement. Placing the yoke of circumcision on the gentiles is seen as testing God. The first thing to learn here is that testing God provokes His anger and is seen as an insult to Him. In Exodus 17:7, we read what testing God really is. It doubts the existence of God. These men complained about food and other requirements which could have been genuine. But testing God shows lack of faith and let us remember that this is only thing God expects from us. Grace is being dispensed and we do not commit or obey but just believe in Him which would produce the necessary obedience and submission in us. But if we do not believe and test Him, all the purposes He has in our life gets wasted and he gives up on us completely.

If we read Hebrews 3:8-11, it explains that the judgment of the whole generation Israel in the wilderness was because they tested God and it provoked Him. When God had delivered these men out of Egypt and through the red sea, they did see the power of God. But even such a great deliverance did not keep his people believing Him constantly and God sees this as a great betrayal and insult to Him. Forgetting God’s manifestations is a very bad evil that had consumed tons and tons of people out of their salvation. It is important for all of us to remember How God has redeemed us and trust Him completely in the wilderness in our lives. Failure here will be very expensive.

In Matthew 4:7, Jesus replies to Satan that testing God is not right. The test Satan proposed was a very small one to jump from the pinnacle of the temple. The first test was on the flesh, second one on the ego of Jesus and the third was to test the faithfulness of Jesus. The second test has so many things for us to learn where Satan tests the ego by asking Him, if you are the son of God, prove yourself. Jesus came to the earth with the highest authority possible ever. The devil was just a tempter and Jesus has no reason to oblige to him. But we read that the devil took Jesus to places and He went and humbly replied to him. If we face the devil with over confidence or with ease, our flesh will provoke us enough to test God in front of the devil. What Elijah and Moses did were not testing God, but rather their faith in God was so immense that they could prove God’s presence in front of ungodly men. But if we intend to prove our strength and try to perform miracles, it is like insulting God directly.

There is one instance in the bible where God allowed to test Him and this verse unfortunately in the much referenced verse in many sermons. Malachi 3:10 is targeted at people who have already been cursed because of their disobediences. The verse mentions “try me now” which means that you do not know me and so you can test me this one time alone. The verse continues that the final victory is to the ones who fear the Lord and serve Him.

In Psalms 78:18 we read how having our own desires higher than God’s is testing God. When we ask God for anything that is of the world or to please the world denies God of his position. The following verses explain clearly that Manna is not a blessing from heaven but it was our desire to be satisfied in the flesh and so, God obliged and then killed the whole generation. This is also a prayer but as in verse 41 of the same psalm, they limited God’s authority over them by testing Him. Verse 20 shows our attitude. Satan being a deceiver has the human mind as a powerful weapon against the Lord. He can easily make us get frustrated because of things we lack in our lives. We actually like to tell everybody that we are being ignored. Psalms 106:14 explains why we test God. This Craving looks to be genuine where the men had great food, entertainment and even rest when they were in the world. But in the wilderness, God has plans in their future and wanted them to be trained well for a great life ahead. The craving for fleshy needs became fatal to all but two of them.

Let us not test God in any of our ways.

Amen.

Nature as a Witness

Acts 14:17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.

This phrase is used by Paul when ministering at Lystra and while he was being worshipped by them after a miracle. Paul explains to them that he is just a human bearing a good news. The good news is that God wants everybody to turn towards Him from the vain things of the world. Before Jesus arrived, God allowed the parts of the earth other than Israel to live in their own ways. But the nature was a constant witness to God.

The problem with the world is that it easily ignores all the witnesses that are placed right in front of its face. Science has developed so big that we start to trust theories about creation and other events of the world rather than the written word that has a clear explanation to everything we need. We have to place the word as the source of the truth and nature as a witness. Instead of this we at most times, search the Bible for proof of natural things which will at most times with the devil’s assistance shatter our faith. We should be careful in everything we see as witness around us. Sometimes, we need miracles to establish our faiths, but a true Christian would marvel at every work of God and build his faith up.

Rain is an important blessing from God which is referenced a lot in the Bible. Gen 2:5, Job 5:10, Ps 147:8 and many other verses attribute rain to originate only from God Himself. Even Noah’s rain had come from the Lord as per Gen 7:4. With this understand, 1 Samuel 12:17-18 would explain the floods of our times. Instead of a king we had forsaken what our original call is and are asking for other rulers to rule us like pleasure, knowledge and technology. Samuel explains this clearly that every goodness is from the Lord. He has to send rains of blessings only at the perfect times and an inappropriate rain would cause us heavy damage. The verse explains every time we have an untimely rain, it is because the people should know how big their wickedness is in front of the Lord.

As per Acts 14:15, we are men of like nature with others. Paul uses this term to a crowd who worships him as a good example. We at many situations receive honor thinking that we deserve that. When a person who is not saved gives us any offering, it should be seen as a vain thing. There are areas where Paul exercised authority like Philemon 20, 21. We are expected by our Lord to use authority and humility diligently at the right times. At these times if we look at the nature around us as a witness, we should see how our pride is so unworthy.

We are expected to turn to a living God from vain things. A list of vain things from the bible is a detailed bible study. One example is Ecc 4:4 where we perform things as a result of envy. This action is not worship, but a regular day to day task. But God sees this as a vain product which does not prove there is a living God. Any vain achievement disproves God’s existence and so we shall fearfully work turning our faces towards Him. There are sinful products and there are vain products. Sin is anything that is against God but a vain thing is anything that denies God. The nature around us is a witness for God who is watching us.

Another vain thing to really understand is Mathew 6:5 where Jesus says that they have received their reward in full. Our prayers should be very carefully done. We have gone to extremes of showing authority to God. Prayers were always humble in the bible. Let us look for witnesses of God around us which obey Him totally.

It was proved that worshipping Paul was vain because the same crowd at that very moment had turned against and stoned him. A small persuasion was sufficient for this. Thats why Paul saw both the worship and the stoning as nothing and did not shake the dust off his feet and leave. He was back in Lystra as per verse 21. They did that in 13:51 at Antioch because of the Jews there but came back in 14:26 for the grace of God which was earlier produced well. Both these actions were good as per the following verses.

Nothing in the world could harm us as there is a living God who keeps reminding us with solid proofs around us. All we have to do is increase our dependency on Him away from vain things so that that he will be pleased. As per verse 22, through many tribulations we should enter the kingdom of God, but a living God is above us and watching us.

Amen.