I was listening to the fourth chapter of Matthew on my audio Bible the other day and when I got to verse 4,5,6 the orator spoke these words, "Then the devil took him up into the holy city, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, And said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands, they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, "It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."
I immediately realized the same words spoken by Satan in Matthew 4 are spoken by David in Psalm 91: "If I make the LORD my refuge, if I make the Most-High my shelter, no evil will conquer me; and no plague will come near my home. For He will order his angels to protect me wherever I go! They will hold me up with their hands so I won’t even dash my foot against a stone." How interesting I thought! Satan was quoting a verse to Jesus that had been written about 400 years earlier and recorded by David. (By the way, Satan knows and can quote scripture!).
David's 91st Psalm assures those who dwell in the shelter of the Most-High (the followers of Jesus) will be protected by God's order to the angels. Satan was "tempting" (trying) Jesus in Matthew's verse. How? By using scripture to entice Him to throw Himself off the top of the temple and therefore placing Jesus in a dangerous physical situation. Satan was basically jeering Jesus to prove The Word of GOD. Today we might describe that as Satan mockingly saying, "put up or shut up." Is David's Psalm 91 true? Is Matthew Chapter 4 true? Does God really order His angels to protect His own in every threatening or dangerous situation? God can and will protect us according to His will, but we are not to put the Lord to the test. We are to heed the words, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Just as Jesus refused to jump off the pinnacle of the temple and just as Daniel did not go lion-hunting, so are we not to intentionally seek out situations that require God’s miraculous intervention. What do I mean? As an example, some Christians believe they can walk carelessly among snakes and not get bit. They misunderstand the application of the verse, “These signs will accompany those who believe: In my name, they will . . . take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them.” To test God’s presence and power by purposely placing oneself in an unsafe situation is expressly forbidden in Scripture. Daniel 6:22 shows us how God delivered Daniel from the mouths of Lions. Daniel did not seek out the lions to prove God's ability to save him, but when he found himself surrounded by them through no fault of his own, he found God was there. Also, Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego were cast into a fiery furnace by others. Jesus came and stood in the midst of the flames preserving their lives! We trust God in dangerous situations but we should never purposely seek out danger and put God on display seeking a miracle.
We read in Acts 28:3-5 how Paul was never harmed by a snake bite, “Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. . . . But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects.” Notice, Paul was not seeking out snakes to handle so as to prove Psalm 91 to be true. He was handling firewood and was bitten by a snake against his wishes. God intervened and miraculously protected Paul from the effects of the snake bite. Jesus’ words in Mark 16:17–18 gave His apostles the assurance that, as they faithfully served God in the spread of the gospel, He would protect them from anything that crossed their paths. Paul's "snake incident" was used as a testimony of God's faithfulness, not as a braggadocios encounter. Look what happened in verse 6, "Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him (Paul), they changed their minds and said that he was a god." There are churches today that literally practice handling poisonous vipers and have special services in which people actually handle venomous snakes, supposedly giving evidence that the church members are true believers who are empowered and protected by God. These types of incidents tempt God to perform, trying the validity of His Word! There is nothing wrong in trusting God for healing and for help, but we shouldn't purposely place ourselves in dangerous situations and then proclaim, "Okay God, now protect me." Just as Jesus told Satan, "It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God," it is utter foolishness to assume if you place yourself purposely in harm's way that the verses from Psalm 91 apply to you. Trying to force God’s hand by requiring that He perform an obvious miracle is more than foolish; it is sinful.
If we assume, despite the evidence to the contrary, that Mark 16:17–18 does belong in Scripture, does it teach that we should be handling snakes in church? Absolutely not. Mark 16:17–18 contains no imperatives. The verse does not say, “Go out and handle snakes”; it says, “They will pick up/or take up snakes with their hands.” When danger approaches, we are able through the power of the Spirit to face and defeat dangerous foes. I ask, "Why not drink a vial of strychnine or arsenic and “prove” one’s faith that way? Why stop with the snakes?" See how purposely aligning yourself with physical danger is testing and basically mocking God to prove His Word? I recall another situation where Jesus was mocked to prove Himself found in Matthew 27:40. People passing by the crucifixion cross wagged their heads and yelled out at Jesus, "If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross." They were mocking Jesus and testing Him to prove Himself. If you read 1 Corinthians 10:9 NIV it clearly states my point, "We should not test Christ, as some of them did-and were killed by snakes." We need to use wisdom and discernment when reading the Word of God. We are definitely supposed to trust God when we find ourselves in every situation that presents itself, not when we purposely place ourselves there to test God (Luke 4:12 NIV). God can and will protect us according to His will as we are serving Him. But we are not to put the Lord to the test. Just as Jesus refused to jump off the pinnacle of the temple, just as Daniel did not go lion-hunting, nor did Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego enter a furnace to test God, so too are we not to intentionally seek out situations that require God’s miraculous intervention.
Until He comes,
-Pat-
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