56 But they put God to the test
and rebelled against the Most High;
they did not keep his statutes.
57 Like their ancestors they were disloyal and faithless,
as unreliable as a faulty bow.
58 They angered him with their high places;
they aroused his jealousy with their idols.
59 When God heard them, he was furious;
he rejected Israel completely.
60 He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh,
the tent he had set up among humans.
61 He sent the ark of his might into captivity,
his splendor into the hands of the enemy.
62 He gave his people over to the sword;
he was furious with his inheritance.
63 Fire consumed their young men,
and their young women had no wedding songs;
64 their priests were put to the sword,
and their widows could not weep.
65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
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What struck me today was the phrase “put God to the test.” What does this mean? What were the Israelites doing? And most importantly, am I guilty of this in my life?
The other faults of the Israelites included ignoring His law and engaging in idolatry. They apparently did so not thinking that God would really mind. They didn’t take seriously His call to be their covenant people. In other words, they took their relationship with Him for granted. Essentially what they were testing was how far they their relationship with God would stretch. The sad note in this passage is that God had had enough, and His judgment came down upon them.
How might we put God to the test? One thing that comes to mind is when we take the grace of God as a license to live however we want. When we look at the free gift of a forgiveness-centered relationship with God to mean that God doesn’t really get that worked up about our sin. When we take the gospel truth that God accepts us just the way we are as license to stay that way indefinitely, or even to get worse. That would definitely be putting God to the test.
Do I do that? This is at the root of a lot of the temptations we struggle with. We know God will forgive us. We know that His promises of love are unending. So what’s the big deal about how we live?
God calls us not to put him to the test. His grace and mercy are to be the foundation for holy living as we seek to live lives of grace and mercy toward others, and single-minded devotion toward Him. I pray that I would be led by the Spirit this day not to put God to the test, but rather to follow Him in true faithfulness.
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