Testing God is unacceptable when the test is rooted in doubt. Think about this one, if you have true faith then why would you take great risks and put God to the test? You must need proof and that is not faith, that is doubt. Faith is not believing that God can but it is knowing that God will. Some try to use Malachi 3:10 as a place where God approved of being tested but read on below.

The scripture says, “‘Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.’” Through God’s word this is the only location that I could find where God tells His people that it is ok to test Him. However, the Hebrew word used for “test” in this verse is bachan, and the meaning is “to examine, scrutinize, or prove (as in gold, persons, or the heart).” When gold is “tested” with fire it proves the quality so it stands to reason that God was telling Israel to test him by bringing in tithes and offerings and he would prove the quality of his blessings and His own faithfulness to His people in response.

Do not put the Lord your God to the test in Deuteronomy 6:16 there is another Hebrew word “Nacah” used for “test” and in this scripture the word used means “to put to the test or to tempt”. This is the scripture where God says to “NOT put the Lord Your God to the test” So from the different definitions of the words used it is clear to me that it is unacceptable to test God when doubt leads us to demand God to prove himself to us by protecting us if we place ourselves in purposeful and deliberate harm. It is not appropriate to say to God, I’m going to do this act of danger so you can save me, protect me and prove to me and other witnesses that you are a powerful God. Jesus himself in Matthew 4:7-10 when the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple and taunted Jesus saying if he was the Son of God to throw himself down and that he would be lifted up. Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:16 and said ‘it is also written: Do not put the Lord your God to the test'”

The Devil will try to get us to doubt the power of God and demand that he “prove” himself to us. God can save us if we are in danger but we must have that faith and trust in Him and not have a to force His hand to prove it to us. God’s will is what we should thrive to stay within and we must trust that His Will is the best thing for our lives and trust that no matter the path He takes us down that it will be used for His glory, for His praise and for His good. We shouldn’t need any more of a sign from Him than we’ve already been given. Sending His son Jesus Christ onto this earth to be tortured, beaten and to give His life and then to rise again and ascend to Heaven should be all the evidence we ever need. We should never manipulate situations or take part in an attempt to coerce God and doing so is grounded in evil.