DO NOT TEST GOD

 

DO NOT TEST GOD

Luke 4:12 Jesus responded, "The Scriptures also say, 'Do not test the Lord your God.' " NLT

I suspect that we do a lot of testing of the Lord. It seems to me that instead of yielding to Him and putting into practice what He has taught us, we do our own thing much of the time. We plow ahead and expect the Lord to put His stamp of approval on what we do. We carelessly go through life without giving serious thought to growing into spiritually mature and productive servants. We spend so much of our time involved in the things that don't matter and little time on the things that do. It is a good thing the Lord is patient and merciful.

We sometimes test the Lord when we see how close to sin we can get without taking the plunge. We sometimes let down our spiritual guard and come face-to-face with tempting situations without turning to the Lord first before we act. When was the last time that you actually prayed for the Lord to keep your mind pure before you turned on the TV set, went to the movies, or whatever else you do for entertainment? When was the last time you asked the Lord beforehand to keep you pure when you went out socially with someone? I suspect that probably most of us have to plead guilty of testing the Lord.

If you find yourself testing the patience of the Lord, isn't it about time you changed your ways? Take it to the Lord and first ask for His forgiveness. Thank Him for His patience with you and loving you anyways. Ask Him to give you a plan on how to better live for Him and serve Him and then resolve to put your plan into action. You will never live in victory until you do.