Does God tempt or test man? Or let us rephrase the question; does God allow man to be tested/tempted? Given the fact or the truth that God led the 100 per cent man or Son of Man called Jesus Christ, to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And since Jesus Christ is our Lord and Saviour, 100 per cent man, and 100 per cent God, does that mean that God led God to the wilderness and allowed the devil to tempt Him thrice. Until after the third temptation, Yeshua responded to the devil with the statement in Mathew 4:7,10; Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’
What we do know from Scriptures is that God allows disasters or some events that acts as test of our faith to take place. Isaiah 45:7; I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things. Such an example of God bringing disaster or allowing it, can be found in the book of Job. The contextual background is laid out in Job 1:8-12; Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man, himself do not lay a finger.”
Ecclesiastes 3:18; I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.
1 Chronicles 29:17; I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity.
Jeremiah 17:10; “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.
James 1:13-15; When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Mathew 4:1; Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. An observation to be made here, is that since God allowed Himself to be tested by the devil, He may allow others, His creations, to be tested by the devil, who by the way is also one of His creations.
