My friend, Rick, was mad. He and his six-year-old had climbed all the way to the top of the sliding board at the water park. But then, Michael looked down the slide and stopped dead in his tracks.
“Michael, trust me, it will be okay. It’s safe. You won’t get hurt. Close your eyes if you have to. Come on, you can do it. Go!” But Michael wouldn’t budge.
“Michael, trust me. I’m your father. I wouldn’t let anything happen to you that would cause you harm.” But Michael refused to go down. Rick was furious. The two of them had to climb all the way back down the ladder squeezing past those who were going up.
Later, Rick remarked, “I was angry that Michael refused to trust me, but then I realized I am the same way, refusing to trust God.” And our trust in God’s character MATTERS to God so much that his Word says, “Without faith it is impossible to please him,” (Heb 11:6a). All meaningful love-relationships require trust. Because Satan wants to destroy our relationship with God, he constantly seeks to undermine our trust in him. This episode examines Satan’s tactics in this battle and how to resist him.
Let’s examine how Satan got Eve to believe the lie that God is not good. Genesis 3:
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate (vs 1-6).
Notice Satan’s opening salvo. “Did God ACTUALLY SAY you can’t eat from ANY of these luscious trees?” Satan deliberately misquotes God to plant the seed of his lie—God is the kind if being who is so selfish, he MIGHT HAVE created ALL OF the trees with this DELICIOUS FRUIT that make your mouth water—JUST SO HE COULD DEPRIVE YOU of ANY OF IT! Right off the bat, Satan insinuates that God’s goodness can’t be trusted. A few verses later, he is more direct, inferring that God’s motivation for restricting Adam and Eve from eating the fruit was SELFISHNESS—"God knows that by eating the fruit you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The father of lies succeeded in fracturing Adam and Eve’s relationship with God. The truth was that God had graciously given every single other tree in the garden to them to ENJOY! The truth was not only that in keeping God’s laws there is great reward (Psalm 19:11) but that in keeping them, Adam and Eve express their love for God, who would later say, “If you love me, keep my commandments."
Eve believed Satan’s lie that God’s restriction on her behavior was selfish. Every daughter of Eve and son of Adam since then has a suspicion lurking in the recesses of his heart that God’s motive in his treatment of us is NOT for our highest good. When opportunity arises, Satan is quick to appeal to those doubts about God. He knows that those doubts are a massive obstacle to drawing near to God. Scripture says, whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him (Heb 11:6b). We will not come to God, if we believe his motive is to deprive us, wound us, or restrict our pleasure. Maybe you have known someone who, as a child, lost a parent through death or divorce and is bitter with God. We must be convinced that God wants what is best for us, or we won’t pursue him whole-heartedly. Perhaps that is why Jesus emphasized that he was the Good Shepherd who loves his flock. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly (Jn 10:10).
THE MORAL DISEASE OF DISTRUSTING GOD
In Exodus 17, there is a classic example of the fallen tendency to distrust God.
All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on…and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 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?” So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel…they tested the LORD by saying “Is the LORD among us or not?” (17:1-7).
To understand this “putting of God to the test” we must look back a few chapters. By this time in the story the people of Israel had already seen one of the most striking miracles in the Bible—the supernatural parting of the Red Sea. Three days later they had grumbled about there being no water. God supernaturally turned bitter, undrinkable water into refreshing water by Moses casting a log into the bitter water. A few verses later we read that God led them to Elim, “where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water” (Ex 15:27). In the next chapter the people are again grumbling against the Lord. We read that they said to Moses and Aaron, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” So, God supernaturally provides them meat for dinner and bread (manna) in the morning. From that day forward they experienced God’s miraculous provision for them every single day.
Yet their fundamental distrust of God surfaces again when at Rephidim they are thirsty and see no water in sight. Notice the description of this unbelief in verse 17:7, “they tested the LORD by saying ‘Is the LORD among us or not?’” Later, in Deuteronomy 6, God would command Moses to make explicit in the moral law, "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah” (vs 16). There is no logical explanation for how the Israelite people gathered manna in the morning—supernaturally provided by God and then later that day grumble, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” That is irrational. The only explanation is the disease of sin; we irrationally default to accusing God of not being good. When we verbally complain about the circumstances God has ordained for us it is called “murmuring,” which is public disloyalty to the sovereign God who ordained those circumstances.
Let’s think about what was going on with the Israelites when God says they put him to the test. Fundamentally, they defined how a good God should act, and when he did not do what they expected—they doubted his goodness and promises. They arrogantly demanded that their physical needs be immediately met—on their timetable. When God does NOT give us what we think we need on our timetable, there is a whisper inside, “God isn’t really good, or he would give this to you.” And when pain comes, that little whisper gets louder, “How can you be good and taking me through such pain?” That is why the true champions of the faith are not those with big churches or large podcast followings. They are those who have endured heart-crushing suffering like the loss of a child or spouse, but who still sputter, with Job, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.”
4 BATTLEFIELDS WHERE WE CONFRONT THE LIE THAT GOD IS NOT TRUSTWORTHY
A. Battling PRIDE, the idea that WE know better than GOD what is best for us. When God was accused of not being good, He took Job to the woodshed, asking:
Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone…Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, Can you loosen Orion's belt? Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the bear with its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth? (Job 38:ff).
Battling a subtle temptation to cool our passion for God when he doesn’t give us what we would like begins with humility. Creation itself tells me that understanding God’s ways is above my pay grade. David exhibited this kind of humility when he wrote in Psalm 131, O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.
B. Battling the lie that if God loved me he would MAKE MY LIFE EASIER. It appears that Satan thought that he could tempt Jesus to use his power as the Son of God to make his life easier. In Matthew 4 we read,
Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
It is likely that each of Jesus’ three temptations reveals something very profound to us about human nature. Why wouldn’t Satan take his best shot against Jesus of Nazareth, utilizing all that he had learned about human nature up to that point? He certainly understood that although the human spirit is willing the body is weak, first tempting Jesus to turn stones into bread when he was at the point of starvation. In the temptation we just read about, once again, Satan tempts Jesus to use his power selfishly, which makes me wonder if Satan is so evil that he cannot conceive of having power and NOT using it selfishly. He says, “Jesus, just leap off the temple’s pinnacle. When God saves you from this 450-foot drop, everyone will believe in you. Isn’t that what you want?” Actually, no. Jesus knew that sensationalism does not produce real faith. Jesus would later say, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign” (Matt. 12:39).
But Jesus sees this temptation as more wicked than using his power selfishly. He sees it as putting God to the test, which may seem less offensive TO US than selfishness. However, Jesus sees putting God to the test as the evil to be resisted. It is fundamentally evil to demand that God prove himself on our terms. Demanding that God act a certain way is what the Israelites did in demanding WATER NOW. And demanding that God act in a certain way—SAVE JESUS WHEN HE JUMPS OFF THE TEMPLE PINACLE is what Satan tempted Jesus to do. It is an arrogant reversal of roles. God is CREATOR. We are CREATURE. HE tells US what to do! It is not true that if God loved us, he would make our lives easier than he has. We are letting ourselves believe a lie when we expect God to demonstrate his love for us by removing our pain. We are no wiser than the four-year-old who screams, “You don’t love me,” when his mom refuses to give him candy at the check-out line in the grocery store. We know that loving parents don’t give their children what they want but what is best for them. God loves us too much to spoil us!
C. Battling a SHORT-RUN PERSPECTIVE. Expecting God to make our life easy, (by giving me water NOW or jumping off a temple forcing God’s angels to catch me so I can win followers) is a short-run perspective. Success, comfort, ease, stability NOW. But God loves us too much to have such a hopelessly naïve perspective on life. The hardships of life, be they tiny or massive, are part of God’s loving long-term plan that accomplishes what is best for us in eternity. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON, in order that he might be the firstborn AMONG MANY BROTHERS (Rom 8:28-29).
A good coach focuses on game day. And he knows something. No pain, no gain. He must get his team running hills and wind sprints so that in the last quarter they are in good enough shape to win. Our God is a superb coach. His focus is the Day when Jesus Christ is revealed—a day that will continue into eternity. We cannot become like Christ in our character without enduring pain. Pain is the fire that refines our inner attitudes. But we hate pain because we focus on right now instead of game day. God loves us too much to do that.
We are deluded if we think there is any way in this life to avoid pain, or if we expect to understand how tragedy and death can be part of God’s perfect plan. God’s love for us does not cause him to wrap us up in a protective bubble so we can be “safe.” That is not what is best for us. It is precisely because he loves us that he is not safe, in the way we would like him to be, i.e. keeping us comfortable. I think of Lucy’s question to Mr. Beaver, in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, about whether Aslan was a safe lion. Mr. Beaver answered, “Who said anything about safe. ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he is good.”
The biblical view of pain, though, does not just end with the truth that such pain is part of God’s good plan. God does not just tell us to suck it up because trials are good for us. To the contrary, part of the wonder of the incarnation is that our savior is the man of sorrows who is acquainted with grief who is our Great High Priest. There is no shame in being what we all are—little boys who are afraid and need to crawl up into our heavenly father’s arms. He urges us, COME. “Draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:16).
D. Battling Satan’s direct assault, the lie that GOD CAN’T BE TRUSTED. In Romans 8 the Apostle Paul annihilates once and for all the argument that God cannot be trusted. In face of all this, what is there left to say? If God is for us, who can be against us? He that did not hesitate to spare his own Son but gave him up for us all—can we not trust such a God to give us, with him, everything else that we can need? (vs 31-32) To try to help us understand this irrefutable proof of God’s love, we who are fathers need to put ourselves in the place of God the Father. How do you feel inside when you see your child suffer? What emotions go with watching your child bear crushing pain? What father would not DO EVERYTHING IN HIS POWER to take that pain away. Except that God the Father loved YOU and ME so much that he did NOT do that. If God the Father endured such agony for YOU, do you think there is ANY good gift that He would not want you to have?
The irrefutable argument of Paul in Romans 8 is that all three persons of the Trinity are FOR US.
- Vs. 26. The Spirit himself intercedes FOR US.
- Vs. 31. The Father did not spare his son but gave him up FOR US.
- Vs. 34. Christ Jesus is at the right hand of God interceding FOR US.
Who would dare to accuse us, whom God has chosen? The judge himself has declared us free from sin. Who is in a position to condemn? Only Christ, and Christ died for us, Christ rose for us, Christ reigns in power for us, Christ prays for us! Can anything separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble, pain or persecution? Can lack of clothes and food, danger to life and limb, the threat of force of arms? Indeed some of us know the truth of the ancient text: ‘For your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter’. No, in all these things we win an overwhelming victory through him who has proved his love for us. I have become absolutely convinced that neither death nor life, neither messenger of Heaven nor monarch of earth, neither what happens today nor what may happen tomorrow, neither a power from on high nor a power from below, nor anything else in God’s whole world has any power to separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord! (Rom 8:33-38).
May these words resound from our hearts as we respond to Satan lie “You can’t trust God.” OH YES, WE CAN!
For Further Prayerful Thought:
- What situations make it easy for you to complain? What do you think of the idea that murmuring is public disloyalty to God?
- How are Israel’s temptation to put God to the test and Jesus’ temptation to put God to the test similar?
- We observed four ways to battle Satan’s doubt about God’s goodness, battling pride, battling the idea that loving me would cause God to make my life easier, a short-run vs long-run perspective and simply quoting the Word of God this says, God is FOR us. Which of these seems hardest?
