John Calvin Commentary Deuteronomy 6:16

"Ye shall not tempt Jehovah your God, as ye tempted him in Massah." — Deuteronomy 6:16 (ASV)

You shall not tempt the Lord. Since the doctrine here should undoubtedly be referred to the First Commandment, we gather from it that this is the main foundation of piety: to give to Him what is His own, and to diminish nothing from the prerogative which He claims. As we have already seen, unbelief was the source and cause of the tempting in Massah. For when the people neither relied on God’s providence nor rested on His paternal love, they burst forth into impatience. Eventually, they advanced so far as to think that God was not with them, unless He complied with their wicked lusts. We perceive, then, that God cannot be rightly worshipped unless His unique attributes are acknowledged. From this, it also appears that true piety cannot be separated from faith, because, if we confess that every desirable good dwells in Him, we shall expect and seek for all things from Him; we shall also patiently and contentedly allow ourselves to be governed by His will and, in a word, surrender ourselves and our lives into His hands.