When Your Fathers Tempted God Hebrews 3:9

The writer of Hebrews showed Jesus, God's Son, superior to “angels, prophets, creation” and Moses and his “house”. The writer then made a reference to a declaration of the “Holy Ghost” who said, “Today if you will hear his voice”, and in chapter three and verse nine of Hebrews we see the Holy Spirit's reference to “when” the readers of Hebrew's “fathers tempted” God where we read:

When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.

The verse begins, “When your fathers tempted me,...” The writer began with the words, “When your fathers” which means “at the time the Hebrew's ancestors, forefathers and founders of the nation” “tempted me” which refers to “a trial or test for the purpose of ascertaining his quality, what he thinks or how he will behave himself ”. The writer of Hebrews referred to the time when the children of Israel the Lord and His faithfulness.

The verse goes on to say, “ ...proved me, and saw my works forty years.” The writer added, “proved me” which means “tested, examined, scrutinized, approved and deemed worthy”, “and saw” or “perceived, noticed, discerned, discovered, attended to and observed” “my works” which refers to “business, employment and that which anyone is occupied” “forty years” or “four decades”. For “forty years” the people of Israel “deemed” God “worthy” over and over again.

When we meditate upon these words in Hebrews, we see the faithfulness of our LORD to the Hebrew people. This example is for us as well because as they were “forty years” in “testing” and “proving” God and His trustworthiness that continues today. Jesus Christ is our “faithful” and “trustworthy” witness, and over and over again He “proves” He is the Messiah, Savior and Lord. May all who read these words consider the manner in which God “proves” Himself “faithful” and “true”.

Next time we see the writer share how God was “grieved with that generation”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.