Tempting God

 I've spent some time in the medieval city of Halle, in the former "East Germany." It is near to Wittenberg, where Martin Luther lived. Off the Marktplatz in Halle is a street called Grassweg. The name comes from a time when the Black Plague arrived in Halle, and some people were infected in the houses along the street. In response, the street was bricked up. Years later, when the bricks were removed, grass had grown up among the cobblestones.

I've seen several posts on FB by people who object to masking and other public safety precautions, saying they "trust God." This isn't trusting God, this is tempting God, something the Bible forbids. Here's Martin Luther:

"Others sin on the right hand. They are much too rash and reckless, tempting God and disregarding everything which might counteract death and the plague. They disdain the use of medicines; they do not avoid places and persons infected by the plague, but lightheartedly make sport of it and wish to prove how independent they are. They say that it is God’s punishment; if he wants to protect them he can do so without medicines or our carefulness. That is not trusting God but tempting him. . . .

No, my dear friends, that is no good. Use medicine; take potions which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places where your neighbor does not need your presence or has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the epidemic but a fire which instead of consuming wood and straw devours life and body? You ought to think this way: “Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison and deadly offal. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine, and take it. I shall avoid persons and places where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me, and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely, as stated above. See, this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.” https://villageanglican.church/village-blog-desmos/2020/3/30/martin-luther-on-how-not-to-tempt-god-during-a-plague?fbclid=IwAR31JZmYwtfNFu6bZFKbfpivip-N2--imJPsenqsOlbcNRqRhtaLioDSOiQ