On one hand we can test God, as is instructed in Malachi 3: 10. It says, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”

On the other hand, we’re not to test God. Deuteronomy 6: 16 says, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah.” That’s the scripture Jesus referred to when, in the wilderness, He refused to tempt God as the devil suggested (Matthew 4: 7-10).

So which is it? Can we test Him or not? The answer lies in our attitude.

From the Malachi situation, the attitude God wants His people to have is that He will do as promised. He wants to demonstrate that the right attitude – a straightforward belief and trust in His promises – will be rewarded with His faithfulness.

However, I think that it should be pointed out that although He is faithful in all things He promises (some with conditions), this is the only place and situation (tithing) in the Bible that He invites us to use our faith as overtly putting Him to the test.

In the Deuteronomy situation, doubt and fear was the attitude that caused God’s people to test Him. They did this at a place in the wilderness in which there wasn’t any water.

First, they quarreled and grumbled against Moses, which was actually an indirect accusation against God. They asked, in Exodus 17: 3, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?” Next, in verse 7, they directly tested the Lord by asking, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

In the Matthew situation, the devil wanted Jesus to test the Lord from a sense of doubt as to whether Jesus really was God’s Son.

The useful difference, then, that these examples show, is the attitude of faith, meaning obedience. Obedience, of course, is what God appreciates. It is under that circumstance that He responds with His own faithful actions.

He objects to being tested when a lack of faith – replaced by doubt and/or fear – leads to trying to manipulate Him into doing something that we desire, as a way of proving to us that He can be trusted.