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 man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. (Deuteronomy 8:3)
As we shared in the previous devotion, God will allow us to experience difficulty and hardship to reveal what is in our hearts. By doing so, it will be revealed whether or not we actually trust Him to be our sole source of provision. As it is written, “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20:7). Throughout the years Israel spent in the wilderness, this issue was raised time and again. In fact, that is one of the primary points Moses was making to those about to enter the land — you may be allowed to feel the pain of hunger but know that God will provide what you need when you need it.
Such a large group of people moving through a desolate wasteland could not store up food reserves meaning that they were dependent upon the manna being there each day, the exception being the Sabbath. But even then, God provided a double portion on the sixth day thus reinforcing the notion that He knows what we need and will provide — but we must trust. More importantly, if He is able to provide for our daily bread, we must trust Him to provide for our other needs. In other words, physical food is not the only thing, certainly not the most important thing, that ensures man’s existence. There are certain spaces in our being that physical bread cannot fill but can only be satisfied by the Word of God.
In that vein, I think it’s fair to say that God’s Word, the Heavenly Bread, is not “comfort food.” If you think about it, food which “comforts” us is usually not the best for us and typically leads to obesity and laziness. To some, physical bread might be considered a comfort food meaning that, in the grand scheme of things, it is more beneficial for us to partake of the bread that comes from heaven than to be fed with bread that comes from the earth. In short, the Word of God does not soothe our flesh — to the contrary, it calls upon our flesh to die — but it is life-giving to our soul and spirit. That is why it is written that, “Man lives, not by bread alone, but by EVERY word that proceeds from the Lord.” So then, let us be just as diligent to feed our spirit man with heavenly bread as we are to fill our bellies with what is in the refrigerator.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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