Not By Bread Alone

Israel's journey through the wilderness is filled with lessons for us to learn.  Deut. 8:3 says, "So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord."  In everything that Israel went through.  God was wanting them to learn this one thing, that they were not to live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.  They were to come to realize that they were not to live for those things that would satisfy their flesh, but for the things of the Spirit which came from God.  We are called to live for more than satisfying our flesh.  We are called to live by every word from God.  Our lives are to be shaped by the word from God.  Israel was to remember the word of God, and talk of it in their homes, and when they walked by the way, and when they rose up, and laid down.  They were to teach the word diligently to their children, and write it on their doorposts, and on their gates.  Their world was to be shaped by the word.  But so often, Israel did not learn this, and settled for the satisfying of their flesh.  They had a living example of the word before them everyday through the manna.  The manna was their daily portion of bread from God.  In John 6:31, the people said to Jesus, "Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' "  Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven."  Jesus is the bread of life.  When we receive from Him, we are receiving that bread from heaven.  It is this true bread from heaven that we are to live by.  To live by bread alone is to live only for the physical, fleshly needs of life.  To live by the bread from heaven is to live in a place where the spiritual realm is our sustenance, and our food.  Jesus quoted this verse when tempted by the devil to command the stones to be made bread.  Matt. 4:4, "But He answered and said, 'It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' "  Jesus would not stoop to the devil's temptation to live for bread alone.  He would live by the word that proceeded from the mouth of God. 

Are you living by the word that proceeds from the mouth of God?