More on testing

The third consideration is that a call from Jesus for his disciples to pray for protection from “putting God to the test” is exactly what we should expect from Jesus, who knew that at the center of his own trials as Son to maintain his faithfulness to God was an inclination to put God to the test. It is what we should expect if he was trying to shape his disciples to denounce, as he did, the wickedness and faithlessness of “this generation”; what we should expect if he wished them, as he himself did, to avoid showing themselves as in any way inclined to refuse to trust in God’s providential care for them, or to express doubt that God’s particular ways for them as his υἱοί [children] were sufficient for achieving God’s ends. As we have already seen, this is the biblical understanding of “putting God to the test.” In fact, it would be surprising if we did not find Jesus issuing so biblical a call for the disciples to petition God for help in avoiding putting God to the test.—The Disciples’ Prayer, page 151