Week 4 —— Testing

Matthew 4:1,2  —  Luke 4:1-2

So last time, we delved into the meanings of ‘tempt’ and ‘test,’ how the definitions of those words have changed over time, and how we must be careful, or we will get some pretty wrong ideas reading scripture.  Don’t miss the fact that any event can be a test and a temptation.  God placed the tree in the garden as a test.  The Accuser used it for temptation.  God tests us for our good so that we can grow in our faith; he never tempts us.  We are tempted by our own desires and by evil forces to entice us to sin, and those temptations may come into play during testing.  Now that we understand the words, let’s look at the concept of testing in the Bible.

Any 6th grader will tell you that teachers give tests to punish students.  Unfortunately, many Jesus followers feel the same way about God’s tests.  Why do we have tests?  I had a science teacher in high school who gave tests at least weekly.  She said, “I can’t help you know what you need to know if I don’t know what you don’t know.”  I am not sure I appreciated that idea then, so imagine my surprise when I heard those words coming out of my mouth one day while teaching Harvard medical students how to examine babies.¹

Testing is an integral part of many stories in the Old Testament.  The tree in the Garden is a test for Adam and Eve.  It is revealed to the reader of Genesis (but not Abraham) that he is undergoing a test with his son, Isaac. Judges 2:22 tells us that God tests Israel’s obedience by not driving out the Canaanites who are still in the land.  

James tells us the purpose of tests:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.  James 1:2-4

The former 6th grader in me has a little trouble with James’ attitude towards trials or tests.  But, let’s be honest, most 6th graders don’t think the goal of going to school is to learn — their real goal is to have fun. This is the secret to understanding what James is saying.  What is the goal of living on this earth? If you are a citizen of the United States of America, your Declaration of Independence says that all men are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  So, the Continental Congress says that God gave us the right to pursue happiness.  (How very ‘6th-grader’ of them.)   If Paul of Tarsus had been sitting in the Pennsylvania State House in 1776, he might have had a different opinion about our God-given pursuit.²

But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 3:13-14

The goal is Jesus —conformity to Jesus, thereby bringing glory to God (see Eph.4:22-24, Rom. 8:29, Phil. 3:21).   Paul would argue with Thomas Jefferson and John Adams (and I’d like to see that debate).  God gave us a goal to pursue — it is not happiness but holiness.  I am afraid this is not well understood.  My wife does marriage counseling, and it is not unusual for a spouse considering divorce to say to her, “But I know God wants me to be happy…”  It is about this time I would reveal myself as a terrible counselor because I would interrupt them and ask them to open a Bible and show me where God values our happiness over our obedience.

God wants us to be joyful; indeed, joy is not optional — it is commanded over and over in the Bible.  (For example, see Matt. 5:12, Rom 12:12,15, 2 Cor 13:11, 1 Thess 5:16, and Philippians 2:18, 3:1, and 4:4.)  But how do we have joy in the midst of pain, trials, or suffering?  We have joy not based on the changing circumstances of our lives but on the unchanging goodness of God.  Author David Mathis says, “Not that we’re dull to the multifaceted pains of life in this age, but in Christ we have access to subterranean joy that is simultaneous with, and deeper than, the greatest of our sorrows — we are “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10).³ Our joy in Christ will only grow as we conform more to him.  Holiness is the goal, joy is found on that path, and testing is a part of the path.  And testing brings joy because we know it brings us closer to our goal.

So now we know why we are tested and why we get joy from being tested. Jesus adds more about testing in the prayer he taught his disciples.

Matthew 6:13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

So we have our usual Greek word ‘peirasmos’ that you remember can be translated as ‘test’ or ‘temptation.’  As noted in the previous blog entry, the King James Version almost always translated it as ‘temptation.’  That is because ‘tempt’ in the early 1600s had the definition ‘to prove or put to the test’ and not the idea of enticing someone to do wrong.  We will learn next time that James 1:13 tells us that God doesn’t tempt anyone.  So Jesus is well aware that God will not lead anyone into temptation. So why does he have us pray and ask God not to do something that the Bible says God never does?

 The idea of ‘periasmos’ here must be a test, not a temptation.  So the King James Version is correct if you read it with the King James era definition of ‘temptation.’  If you read it with a modern-day definition of ‘temptation,’ then you are saying God is responsible for tempting us. So it should read:

Matthew 6:13  And lead us not into a test,…

So, of course, when they released the New King James Version in 1982 with contemporary English, they changed that to the modern ‘test’ and not ‘temptation,’ right?  No, they left it the same.  All the modern translations of the Bible continue to translate it as ‘temptation’ — except a very few, one of which is the Good News Translation: “Do not bring us to hard testing”(for why they do this, see the footnote).⁴  

The Hebrew version of Matthew⁵ says, “Do not lead us into the hands of a test.”  This is also the phrasing seen in the Peshitta, an ancient Aramaic version of the New Testament still used in the East.  The Talmud, the teaching of the ancient Rabbis, has this prayer which is still prayed by Orthodox Jews daily: “Do not bring me into the hands of a test, or into the hands of shame.”  Now, whether Jesus is borrowing this phrase from a traditional Jewish prayer (which he does a good bit) or the Rabbis got it from him, I don’t know.  But I know God isn’t leading me into an enticement to sin.

So Jesus is telling us to pray and ask God to hold back from testing us today.  This idea is seen elsewhere in the Bible as in Proverbs 30:7-9, where Agur urges God not to test him with riches “lest I be full and deny you” or with poverty “lest I be poor and steal and then profane the name of my God.” 

When Jesus teaches us to pray that we not be tested, he speaks from the experience of recently enduring a 40-day test in the wilderness. He knows how difficult testing can be.  He will later sweat drops of blood in an agonizing test in a garden. Jesus understands the harshness of tests, and he has compassion for us.  Most of the tests we face are ones we stumble into while walking in the wrong direction.  God rarely leads us to tests, and according to Jesus, it is good to ask God not to lead us there. (Of course, asking God not to lead you anywhere presumes that you are someone who is following his directions already.  He won’t lead you anywhere if you are not following him.)

 So you can say the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ the way you always have but know that you are talking about testing, not tempting.

Now, we must discuss the idea that it is sinful to test God.  I was talking with a friend about God testing us and how it is not okay to test God, and my friend asked me, “Then why was it alright for Gideon to test God with the fleece?  (If you don’t know the story, read Judges 6.)  First, don’t read every story and get the idea that just because a hero in the Bible did it, it is good for you.  No, God did not intend for you to have multiple wives like Jacob, to commit adultery or murder like David, or to be a complete lecherous, reprobate jerk of a bully like Sampson.⁶  There are a lot of examples in the Bible of how not to act and what not to do.  God had already been very clear with Gideon, so Gideon’s fleece was a lack of faith and a hesitance in obedience. 

Ex. 17:2-3 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD? But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

God led Israel specifically to this place without water so they could become thirsty in this wilderness.  This was a test for them.  How would they react?  Would they endure the thirst, knowing that God would not let them die of thirst because he has promised to bring them to the promised land?  They fail.  Like Gideon’s fleece, this is a lack of faith.  They even question God’s goodness, saying he brought them there to kill them.  Their experience parallels Jesus’ first two temptations, which we will discuss more fully in a few weeks.

The Spirit leads Jesus to a wilderness where there is no food.  The first temptation is to create bread from stones, acting independently of the Father and outside God’s will to be fasting.  Jesus refused to believe God led him there to die.  He passes where Israel failed.  The second temptation is for Jesus to jump off the pinnacle of the temple and expect God to rescue him.  Once again, Jesus doesn’t act outside of the Father’s will.  There were plenty of cliffs in the wilderness to do this test, but he was taken to this very public place for a reason.

Many would have seen this undeniable miracle at this location, and that was not God’s timing of how the Messiah was to be revealed. Jesus’ ministry was initially to be very low-key in Galilee to allow time to teach the disciples before the authorities in Jerusalem dealt with him.   In the last two weeks of his ministry, Jesus does a miracle in front of a group of people just outside of Jerusalem.  He purposely makes sure the miracle is undeniable (he waits until Lazarus is four days dead), and this leads the religious leaders in Jerusalem to seek his death.  Had he done such a public miracle in Jerusalem in front of the religious leaders, his ministry would have been cut short before it began.  Jesus waits until “his hour has come” and then orchestrates his own demise.

I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.  John 8:28 

Jesus always submitted to the Father’s will.   His answer to the devil at the second temptation is, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” In other words, stay in the Father’s will and not ‘jump’ ahead of God.  God sets a path before us.  To stray from the path is a lack of trust in God. 

 Finally, there is a verse where it seems God is inviting you to test him.

Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.  Malachi 3:10

Some people have explained that God makes an exception to his rule of testing because it’s about tithing, and tithing is ‘special.’  That’s convenient, but I don’t think that’s right.  Remember the occasions when it was sinful to test God; it was because you were demonstrating a lack of faith or a departure from God’s set path for you.  But in Malachi, if we participate in the test, we give as God commanded, demonstrating faith. So that is obedience, not sin.  We are being faithful, and God is proving his faithfulness to us by opening up the windows of heaven.  Every day we live, God demonstrates his faithfulness to us.  You know that because of those verses in Lamentations that you memorized (and didn’t even know you knew.)  It is one of the reasons I love the old hymns.

“It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”   Lamentations 3:22-23 (KJV)  

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
there is no shadow of turning with Thee;  (James 1:17)
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
as Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning, new mercies I see;
all I have needed Thy hand hath provided:
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!⁷

This is the secret to passing tests— remember this verse (or remember these lyrics).

Israel is escaping from Egypt, and they are camping out on the shore of a sea. Then, the Egyptians come after them.  And God gives them a test.  He doesn’t tell them to attack the Egyptians; he tells them just to stand firm where they are. He doesn’t ask them to fight that vast army of chariots of the Egyptians, He doesn’t ask them to part the waters, just stand firm.  They had a choice: they could run for their lives or stand there, believing God would be faithful to what he said and watch God fight for them.  They passed.

Later, Israel was in the desert with no food or water. Should they worry, complain, and yell at Moses? No, because God is good. God’s Faithfulness is Great. He has promised to bring them to a new land. He will not let them starve. 

Abraham’s great test would be whether he would be willing to give up his only son. Would Abraham have the faith to believe that God is good, that God is faithful, and that God would keep his promise to raise up a great nation through his son, even if he were sacrificed?

In the Garden, before he goes off to pray alone, Jesus tells his disciples,  “Pray, for we all face a great test”…  one he knew the disciples would fail. One Jesus passes. Would Jesus have enough trust in God’s faithfulness to suffer and die? Would he believe God’s promise not to forsake him but to resurrect him? 

God may never lead you into a test. But if you are like me, you will stumble into enough on your own.  When you do, when things are brutal or bleak, don’t grumble and complain, don’t jump ahead of God, and don’t run away.  Just stand firm and believe that God is Good. You don’t have to fight the enemy, and you don’t have to part the waters because God is Faithful. He loves you and promises to work all things for your good. 

Please see my Bibliography for recommended books and links to obtain them.

1. Let me take a moment to thank Mrs. Puckett, Mrs. Holder, Mr. Dempsey, Mrs. Clements, and Mr. Ehman, who instilled in me a love for science and would be very surprised to know that the smart-mouthed kid became a medical doctor.
2. Of course, Paul would not claim citizenship here anyway.  “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).
3. David Mathis, “Joy Is Not Optional: Why Your Happiness Matters to God” February 3, 2016, www.desiringgod.org
4. So why do most modern translations continue to use “Lead us not into temptation” even though our current understanding of ‘temptation’ is different and leads to contradiction?  In 2017, the Pope suggested changing it from ‘temptation,’ and it caused quite a stir.  It seems people become very defensive of the traditional wording of the prayer they have said all their lives.  Even when faced with sound reasoning and facts, people don’t want to let go of what they have always been taught.  Jesus had this same problem with the Pharisees, refusing to let go of their traditional interpretations, even when God himself tried to teach them better.  He said, “So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God”  (Matthew 15:6).  Please don’t let your traditions trump scripture.
5. Hebrew Gospel of Matthew, George Howard, 1995.  We have multiple copies of Matthew in Hebrew. None are Matthew’s autograph, of course.  The one quoted here is Shem Tov’s Hebrew Matthew, translated by George Howard.
6. Contrary to what you learned in your 5-year-old Sunday School Class, you should not want to grow up to be like Sampson.  If you want to read a great book explaining how God can use this mess of a man, here it is:  Make Your Mark: Getting Right What Samson Got Wrong, by Brad Gray.  (2014).
7. “Great is Thy Faithfulness” lyrics by Thomas H. Chisholm, music by William Runyan 1923.