Gambling Puts God To The Test

Recently, I had a friend to ask me if there was a passage in the Bible that condemned gambling. I opened my Bible and showed him one particular verse, Matthew 4:7, which says, in the King James Version, “Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” This verse, of course, was Jesus quoted to the Devil when He was tempted after His 40 days of fasting in the wilderness. The Devil had taken Jesus to the top of the temple, and he dared Jesus to jump off. Satan even quoted Psalm 91 verses 11 and 12, “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone” in order to lure Jesus into committing sin. It was Deuteronomy 6:16 that Jesus quoted to the Devil in response to this temptation, “Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.”

I showed my friend this verse, and told him that whenever we gamble, we are breaking the command of Scripture that we “shall not tempt the Lord our God.” However, when my friend saw this verse, he seemed a little confused. He could not understand why I made such a connection between this verse and the subject of gambling. This is an understandable reaction, because the connection between gambling and this commandment may not be obvious, especially as it is phrased in the King James Version. For that reason, I thought it might be helpful to write a description of what it means when we say that gambling “puts God to the test.”

“Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” may not be a clear and obvious command to many people. How does one tempt God? What many people may not know is that the word “tempt” in the original Bible language has exactly the same meaning as we use for the word “test” or “put to a test” or “to try” or “put through a trial.” In modern times, we have reserved the word “tempt” for the idea of “seducing someone to do something evil.” However, the Biblical word for “tempt” refers to any kind of testing, not just testing someone to see if they can be seduced into sin. For this reason, most popular 20th century translations of the Bible will not translate this verse using the word “tempt.” For example, the New American Standard Bible translates Matthew 4:7 as, “Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it is written, 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'" The New International Version, likewise, says “Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” The Holman Christian Standard Bible also says “Jesus told him, "It is also written: Do not test the Lord your God.”” In each of these recent translations, the word “test” or “put to the test” is used. But what does all of this have to do with gambling?

Any time a person gambles with money for the purpose of winning more money, he is testing God. If a person puts down money when he plays cards, or puts money in a slot machine, or buys a lottery ticket, he is testing God in order to determine if God will let him win a lot of money by sacrificing a little. Of course, people don’t look at it this way. People talk about chance, or fate, or “Lady Luck.” Such terms are meaningless. There is no such thing as chance. Some people may literally believe in “Lady Luck.” Such belief is no less than crass idolatry, or belief in a false god. There is no such thing as luck. The Bible says, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.” (Proverbs 16:33 NIV). In other words, God controls every cast of dice, every hand of cards, every turn of a wheel, every play at a lottery. Every time you gamble with money you are saying, for practical purposes, “God I am going to test You. I am going to put this money down, testing You, to see if You will let me win a jackpot.” According to what Moses taught us in Deuteronomy 6:16, confirmed by Jesus in Matthew 4:7, such testing of God is an abomination in His sight. He hates it. You are sinning directly against Him. I am well aware of the fact that millions of people will disagree with me on this. However, if you are honest with the meaning of the Bible, you cannot interpret this verse any other way.

Many would say to me, “Preacher, people gamble all kinds of ways! You gamble whenever you put money in a charity raffle in order to win a prize. You gamble on getting into a wreck every time you drive a car! How can you say that gambling is a sin?” Technically, from the strict meaning of the word “gamble,” this is correct. However, the Scripture clearly does not forbid us from taking the risks that we must necessarily take in order to live. If your purpose for doing something is normal, necessary, decent, and appropriate in life, then it is not immoral gambling. We have to drive cars, or ride in cars, simply to live in modern times. A person who buys a raffle ticket at a charity typically does so to help the charity, and not solely to win the prize. Immoral gambling takes place when a person makes a sacrifice solely for the purpose of taking a “chance” to win, and using a means which is well known for seducing people into losing money they need to live on. Some people tell me, “Preacher, the lottery is for a good cause. It helps to fund college educations.” I have a better idea. Take all the money you would spend on lottery tickets and donate it to a scholarship fund. Then you won’t be contributing to something that pulls people into addictions and facilitates crime, wickedness, and greed. Also, your donation to a scholarship won’t take such high percentages of your money to make a number of other people rich as opposed to helping a college student. Make excuses all day if you like, but be warned, the Scripture is clear. God becomes angry when you put Him to a test. “Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel.” (Psalm 78:41)

James Sanders
Pastor, First Baptist Church
sandersjc@yahoo.com