The Audacity of the Creature: On Testing God Text: Deuteronomy 6:16
Introduction: Putting God in the Dock
We live in an age that prides itself on its skepticism. Modern man fancies himself a dispassionate judge, placing everything and everyone in the dock for cross-examination. We put philosophies on trial, we put history on trial, we put our political opponents on trial, and above all, we put God on trial. The prevailing spirit of our time is one of insolent demand. "Prove yourself," we say to the Almighty. "Show me a sign, answer my questions, conform to my expectations, and then, maybe, I will grant you the courtesy of my belief." This is not honest inquiry; it is arrogance of the highest order. It is the creature demanding that the Creator submit His resume for our approval.
This is not a new sin, but rather a very old one with a sleek, modern finish. It is the sin of Massah, the sin of the wilderness generation, and it is the sin that Moses warns the new generation against as they stand on the cusp of the Promised Land. The command in our text today is not a dusty artifact of ancient Israelite religion. It is a living, breathing, and urgently necessary word for the church today. The temptation to put God to the test is perennial. It crouches at the door of every believer's heart, whispering doubts, demanding proofs, and urging us to treat God not as our sovereign Lord, but as a cosmic vending machine or a heavenly concierge, here to dispense blessings on our command.
But the God of the Bible will not be managed. He will not be manipulated. He will not be put in the dock. He is the Judge, and we are the ones standing before Him. This command in Deuteronomy is a crucial boundary marker for a life of faith. It teaches us the fundamental difference between faith and presumption, between trust and effrontery, between resting in God's promises and demanding that He perform for us like a court magician. To understand this is to understand the very grammar of our relationship with the living God.
The Text
"You shall not put Yahweh your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah."
(Deuteronomy 6:16 LSB)
The Historical Backdrop: What Happened at Massah?
To understand the command, we must first understand the crime. Moses says, "as you tested Him at Massah." This sends us back to the book of Exodus, chapter 17. The people of Israel, recently delivered from Egypt by staggering miracles, the memory of the plagues and the drowned Egyptian army still fresh, find themselves in the wilderness without water. And what is their response? Is it prayer? Is it a humble petition to the God who just split the sea for them? No. It is grumbling, quarreling, and accusation.
"Therefore the people contended with Moses, and said, 'Give us water that we may drink.' So Moses said to them, 'Why do you contend with me? Why do you test Yahweh?'" (Exodus 17:2)
Their complaint against Moses is a thinly veiled complaint against God. They are not just thirsty; they are spiritually belligerent. Their demand for water is wrapped in a faithless challenge. The name of the place, Massah, means "testing." And what was the test? The text tells us plainly. They tested the LORD by saying, "Is Yahweh among us or not?" (Exodus 17:7). This is the rotten core of the sin. After all God had done, after the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, after the manna from heaven, they have the audacity to question His very presence and His goodness.
Their "test" was not a sincere search for truth. It was a hostile cross-examination. They were essentially saying, "God, we find your performance thus far to be unsatisfactory. Our present circumstances do not meet our approval. We demand that you perform another miracle, right now, according to our specifications, to prove that you are real and that you are on our side. If you provide water, we will continue to believe. If not, we reserve the right to declare you an absentee landlord and a fraud."
This is putting God to the test. It is dictating terms to the Almighty. It is making our faith conditional upon God's willingness to perform according to our script and on our timetable. It is the height of creaturely insolence. God, in His mercy, did provide water from the rock. But He also memorialized their sin in the name of the place, so that it would stand as a permanent warning against this kind of covenantal treachery.
The Covenantal Command: Trust and Obey
Now, with that backdrop, Moses brings this command to the new generation. They are about to face new challenges: giants, fortified cities, and the temptations of paganism. The temptation to demand fresh proofs from God, to ask "Is Yahweh among us or not?" in the face of new difficulties, would be immense. Moses is arming them against this very sin.
The command, "You shall not put Yahweh your God to the test," is therefore a call to remember. It is a call to build their future faith on the foundation of God's past faithfulness. God has already given them more than enough evidence of His power and His love. He has given them His covenant, His promises, and a history of mighty redemptive acts. To demand more is not a sign of a weak faith seeking strength; it is a sign of a hard heart demanding a spectacle.
There is a vast difference between crying out to God in our distress and putting God on trial. The Psalms are full of honest cries: "How long, O Lord?" That is the language of faith, even when it is stretched thin. It is the child crying out to his father. The sin of Massah is the language of the courtroom prosecutor. It is the rebellious subject demanding the king prove his legitimacy. Faith rests on God's character and His Word. Testing demands that God's character and Word be continually re-validated by signs and wonders tailored to our fickle desires.
The Christological Contrast: The Son Who Would Not Test
This command finds its ultimate clarification and fulfillment in the temptations of Christ. In Luke 4, after forty days in the wilderness, Satan comes to tempt Jesus. And what is the pinnacle of that temptation? He takes Jesus to the highest point of the temple and says:
"'If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; for it is written, "He will command His angels concerning You to guard You," and, "On their hands they will bear You up, lest You strike Your foot against a stone."'" (Luke 4:9-11)
Notice the satanic brilliance of this. Satan is tempting Jesus to re-enact the sin of Massah, but with a pious scriptural gloss. He is saying, "Go ahead, put God to the test. Force His hand. Engineer a crisis and make Him prove His promise to protect the Son. Prove to everyone, and to yourself, that you are who you say you are." It is a temptation to presumption. It is an invitation to demand a sign.
And how does Jesus, the true Israel, the faithful Son, respond? He answers Satan by quoting our very text: "It is said, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test'" (Luke 4:12). Where the first Adam failed in a garden, and where Israel failed in the wilderness, the last Adam stands firm. He refuses to treat His Father with the insolence of a test subject. His relationship with the Father is one of perfect trust, not one of suspicious demand. He does not need a spectacular sign to validate the Father's love or His own identity. He rests in His Father's Word.
In this, Christ shows us what true sonship looks like. It is a life of obedient trust. Israel, God's disobedient son, grumbled and tested. Christ, the obedient Son, trusted and obeyed. His refusal to test God at the temple is what qualified Him to become the rock that was struck for us, from whom the living waters of salvation now flow.
Our Modern Massahs
So how do we, in our day, put God to the test? We may not be in a literal desert demanding water, but the principle is the same. We put God to the test when we live presumptuously. We sin deliberately, assuming God's grace will be our safety net. We make foolish financial decisions, expecting God to provide a miraculous bailout. We neglect our health, assuming God is obligated to heal us. This is not faith; it is tempting God. It is jumping off the temple and expecting the angels to catch us.
We put God to the test when we demand a sign before we will obey. We know what the Word of God says about forgiving someone, about tithing, about sexual purity, but we say, "Lord, first give me a sign. Give me a feeling. Make it easy. Then I will obey." This is the spirit of Massah, making our obedience conditional on God meeting our demands.
And we put God to the test when we allow our difficult circumstances to make us question His fundamental goodness and presence. When tragedy strikes, when prayers seem unanswered, when the way is dark, the ancient question slithers into our hearts: "Is the LORD among us or not?" To entertain that question, to demand that God justify His ways to us, is to stand with the grumblers at Massah. Faith, in contrast, stands on the finished work of Christ and says, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." Faith looks at the cross and concludes that a God who would give His only Son for us has already given us all the proof of His love we will ever need.
The call for us is to be like Christ in the wilderness. It is to answer the temptations of doubt, presumption, and demand with the settled conviction of God's Word. We are not to be spiritual bargainers, but covenant children. We are to walk by faith, not by sight, and certainly not by signs demanded on our own terms. God has given us His Son, He has given us His Spirit, and He has given us His Word. Let that be enough. Do not put the Lord your God to the test.