Faith or Presumption?

There is a real difference between faith and presumption. But if it was really easy to tell the difference, a lot fewer people would make the common mistake of thinking that they are acting by faith when instead they are acting in presumption.

When Jesus was tempted by Satan to throw himself off the temple, the devil used scripture to make his point. It was certainly true that if Jesus fell off that pinnacle, the angels of God would lift him up so he wouldn’t have been hurt. But Jesus’ response was that scripture says that we are not to tempt the Lord,  even by our use of scripture. What did Jesus mean by this?

 

Just because God promised protection doesn’t give us the right to go and recklessly put ourselves in harm’s way, forcing God to back up his promise. What kind of relationship with God would that be? One of us loving God? Or one of arrogance, trying to force God’s hand?

 

There is a verse at the end of Mark that reads, Mark 16:17-18 (ESV) “And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” I want to focus in on the part that reads “they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them”.

 

There have been groups of Christians, because of these verses, who have had poisonous snakes and poison in their worship services. They say something like, the Bible says it, I believe it, and it’s so. Yes, it’s so, but like Satan’s temptation of Jesus, just because it is scripture doesn’t give us the freedom to try to bully God. That would be acting presumptuously. The intent of that verse is fulfilled in situations like the one Paul found himself in in Acts 28:2-6. There Paul was putting some wood on a fire and a poisonous viper bit him on the hand. The locals thought he would die, but nothing happened. So they wondered, who could Paul be? Thus Paul was able to preach the gospel to them.

 

These promises of protection - like Psalms 91:3 (ESV) “For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence” - are there to encourage us in times like today. But to act presumptuously would be unwise. For the scripture also says, ”The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.” Proverbs 22:3 (ESV) Proverbs 27:12 says the same thing.

 

So let’s act in faith, trusting God for our safety and deliverance, not being fearful or panicky. This honors God. So does acting prudently in the face of danger, danger like the COVID-19 virus.