Man Does Not Live on Bread Alone

…but on every word  that comes from the mouth of the Lord God.

Last week, the focus was on the number forty and the practice of fasting. 

Today, let’s look at a line from the Old and New Testament that may lead you to look at fasting from a different perspective.

The lines from the title and subtitle above first show up in Deuteronomy.

• Deuteronomy is part of the Pentateuch. Or, if you are Jewish, the Torah. 

• This book is made up of teachings from Moses, one of the best known prophets.

Deuteronomy 8:3

“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

In my NIV Bible, the eighth chapter of Deuteronomy is titled Do Not Forget the Lord. Moses was reminding the Israelites that if they wanted to enter the Promised Land, then they had to follow every command he gave them from God. Verse two highlights how God led them through a hard wilderness existence for forty years so that He could see what was truly in their hearts. 

Read that verse above one more time.

Every once in a while I hear myself saying (or thinking), “First-world problems.” 😏
It’s usually when my sons complain about not having what they want, like not wanting a peanut butter and jam sandwich on the sourdough bread that I bought. One of them only likes Uncrustables now. But these first-world problem moments can be connected to other adults and me as well. We in America and Canada have SO MUCH. Grocery stores are filled with choices, and when we can’t afford them, we can reach out to churches and school programs to help. 

The Israelites literally packed up  whatever they could and walked into a desert wilderness…and then were kind of stuck there for the next forty years! They couldn’t just drive over to Kroger or Wegmans for a loaf of bread, nor could they look online to see when the church’s food pantry was open. They were forced to rely on God for survival.

Do you need God to humble you, cause you to hunger, and then give you His Word in a way that will teach you to depend on Him?

Honestly, I do.

Over the past week I have been confronted again and again with the fact that I have made my life so busy that I am about to lose sight of what will truly fill my day with blessings—His Word. 

The lines from the title and subtitle above show up again in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.

• Matthew was one of the original twelve apostles, and a tax collector for the Roman empire. Matthew’s Gospel was written to the Jewish people.

• Luke was not one of the original twelve, and was a physician by trade. He was most likely a Gentile, and went on to write the Book of Acts after his gospel.

Matthew 4:1-4

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said,
“If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Matthew shared this moment of Jesus being tested in the wilderness with his Jewish readers centuries ago, but God uses His Word to continue sharing it with us today. Jesus did not wander the wilderness for forty years, but He did do it for forty days. Can you imagine fasting for forty days? I can’t. Fasting for just one day is nearly impossible for me.

Do you see how Jesus answers Satan?
These words would not have been lost on the Jewish readers from Matthew’s time. They were well aware of the Torah and the words within it. Moses spoke these very words to the Israelites, as you read above from Deuteronomy. 

Has God’s Word become so engrained on your heart and mind that you can call on it when you are tempted?

Friends, I am only beginning to be able to truly do this—to recall His Word when I most need it. Allowing the Word of God to leave a mark on me has been a slow process, and one that I am continuing to work on right now. How about you?

Luke 4: 1-4

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”

My first thought is, Well, yeah! Of course He was hungry! But then something else just occurred to me. Why do you think Satan came to test Jesus after He had fasted for forty days?

Do you have any ideas?

Satan chose to approach Jesus only when He was weakened from hunger and thirst!
Satan knew he was not equal to the Son of God, and so had to time his questions well.

My second thought is not an original one, but one from my good friend.
When something is repeated in the Word of God, we should pay particular attention to it. God did not call His writers to fill a word quota or write for entertainment. The Bible was written by men, but contains the inspired words of God. The fact that we can read “man shall not live on bread alone” in three different books that were written by three different authors is a BIG deal. Pay attention here!

You may or may not choose to practice fasting this Lent.
You may have given up social media.
You may be limiting your spending to only what is necessary.
You may be committed to reading the Bible each day.

Whether you are choosing to take something out of your life, or add something into it, I am assuming that you are trying to change something in your life as a way to prepare your heart for Easter. 

Dear friends, I want to encourage you on this forty day journey!
When you are trying to make holy changes in your life, you will meet up with trials and temptations. 

I say this next thing as much to myself as I do to you…

Hold onto the truths that can be found in the Word of God.
Don’t rely on the comforts of our first-world society; they are fleeting.

Remember that true blessings and sustenance can be found:

• in the pages of your Bible. 

• in the precious moments of prayer.

• in the silent moments of meditation on scripture.

As I finish Day Five, I pray that each of you can rely on the Word of God in a new and real way today!