The people of Israel had no drinking water. They grumbled. They harangued. They challenged Moses. "Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?" (Exodus 17:3). God told Moses, "Take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink" (Exodus 17:5-6).

The place was named Massah meaning "test." Forty years later, Moses warned the people, "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah" (Deuteronomy 6:16).

Satan tried to snare Jesus. "The devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, "He will command His angels concerning You"; and "On their hands they will bear You up, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone"’" (Matthew 4:5-6).

Jesus hearkened back to Israel’s failure. "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test" (Matthew 4:7). Like ancient Israel, we test God. Jesus doesn’t. His loving obedience makes up for our testy behavior.