Don’t Push God To The Wall!

Deuteronomy 6:16 – Do not put the LORD your God to the test as you did at Massah.

6:16 – Don’t push God, your God, to the wall as you did that day at Massah, the Testing-Place.(Message Bible)

To push someone to the wall is to constantly annoy someone until they are very angry. To push someone to the wall is to test their patience. To push someone to the wall is to irritate them until they get annoyed. Don’t push God to the wall!

Pushing someone to the wall is borrowed from fighting language. To push someone to the wall is to provoke them to beat you and they keep avoiding it by moving backwards until they get to a wall and they can’t move any further and what remains is to beat you. Don’t push God to the wall!

To push someone to the wall is the same as cornering a cat. If you beat and chase a cat, it will run until it gets to a wall and it has no where to run. When a cat is cornered and has no where to run, it fights back. Cornered cats have fought back and seriously injured adults or even killed. A cat pushed to the wall can kill you. Don’t push God to the wall!

Don’t push God to the well is the same as saying, don’t try His patience. Don’t test Him to see if He can punish you and harm, because He can and He will when pushed. Don’t push God to the wall!

Moses tells Israelites in our passage today that don’t push God to the wall. Don’t put God to the test as you did in Massah. How did they push God to the wall in Massah?

Exodus 17:7 – And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

17:7  He named the place Massah (Testing-Place) and Meribah (Quarreling) because of the quarreling of the Israelites and because of their testing of God when they said, “Is God here with us, or not?” (Message Bible)

While at the wilderness on the way from Egypt to Canaan, Israelites lacked water at some point. The lack of water caused them to complain bitterly. They even regretted accepting to be rescued by God from Egypt. They said, they wish they had not been rescued (Exodus 17:3)!

The complains were so bad and disrespectful. The complaints were so offensive. The complaints were blasphemous. Moses angrily did what God told him in order to produce water. In anger Moses struck the rock and water came out. Moses named the place Massah- Meribah, translated as a place of pushing God to the wall by complying and quarreling.

We complain and quarrel when we are angry. When we are angry we easily become irrational and careless. That is what caused Israel to push God to the wall!

Do you have a complaint? Be careful how you complain, don’t push God or anyone else to the wall. Are you angry? Walk away and calm down, pushing someone to the wall can cost you injuries or life. Domestic violence and homicides have a background many times in pushing someone to the wall.

You may think it’s your right to express yourself disrespectfully, yet you are pushing someone to the wall. When eventually they can’t take it anymore, chaos ensues and you harm them or they harm you, and what follows is a lifetime regret. You have permanent injuries. You kill someone and you end in prison. Someone kills you, you leave your family behind in pain and they end up in prison. Was the right to push them to the wall worth it?

It’s better to walk away from trouble than push anyone to the wall. The consequences of pushing anyone to the wall may be sudden and you won’t see it coming. Israelites in constant nagging, complaining and murmuring pushed God to the wall. Moses tells them, don’t push God to the wall as you did at Massah!

2 Chronicles 36:15-16 – The LORD, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. (16) But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.

Israel ended up in Babylonian captivity for 70 years because they pushed God to the wall. God tried everything to avoid sending them to captivity but t y pushed Him to the wall until there was no remedy. God sent word through various agents but they mocked them and despised God, until there was no remedy.

You should not push your boss to reach a point where there is no remedy. You should not push your parents and guardians to a point where there is no remedy. You should not push your spouse to a point where there is no remedy. You should not push strangers, anyone to a point there is no remedy. Don’t push God to the wall, until there is no remedy!

Matthew 23:37 – “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.

Jesus cried over Jerusalem. This is one of the few cases recorded that Jesus cried. Jesus says Jerusalem pushed Him to the wall. Jesus tells Jerusalem that He tried everything but they pushed Him to the wall. As a consequence, Jerusalem was taken captive and destroyed and it remained ruins for many years. Jerusalem pushed God to the wall. Don’t push God to the wall!

Reflect on your recent alterations at work, at school, with relatives, neighbors, family, parents and even spouse. Are you directly or indirectly pushing them to the wall? Back down, slow down, retreat, it is regrettable to push anyone to the wall! Don’t push anyone to the wall!

Are you pushing yourself to the wall. Are you brooding anger? Are you refusing to discharge stress? Are you refusing to seek help? Are you avoiding medication? Are you refusing counseling? Are you refusing to visit a psychiatrist? Are you refusing to talk to those who can help you? You are pushing yourself to the wall. Those who push themselves to the wall, can develop mental illness, harm others or harm themselves. Don’t push yourself to the wall!

How is your spiritual life. Have you pushed God to the wall by ignoring Him? No one is safe pushing God to the wall. You are are not safe pushing God to the wall. Don’t push God to the wall. In Jesus’s name, Amen!

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