“But He (Jesus) answered and said, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'” Matthew 4:4
In Isaiah’s book in the Bible, he wrote down the Lord’s words for the generation of his time, and certainly of ours. He wrote concerning the word of the Lord: “…So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (55:11) How is the “word of the Lord” so different than that of men? The answer if found, and so simply expressed in the Lord Jesus’ words: “The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life.” (Jn. 6:63) God’s words are not only the communication of the absolute truth, for He cannot lie, but the giving forth of life and power according to those words. Because of this accompanying power, and authority, His purposes are realized in and through our lives. So, why did the Lord Jesus, when He was confronted by Satan, simply, clearly, and very powerfully declare, “Man shall not live by bread alone?” It is because man was created not only to exist, but to truly “live,” and this by the power of God, by the Spirit of God. God’s word and His power according to, and in that word, are essential for man to live by if he would honor and glorify His Creator and Redeemer. Jesus went so far as to declare that there is not a single word in Scripture, pronounced by God, which is unimportant, but that all has been given to man so that by hearing or reading the word of God, trusting in the Holy Spirit to quicken it to the heart, he might live by it, and be met by God according to it. The word is the objective “bread from heaven,” the expression of the “living bread from heaven”, Christ. To receive the word of God in truth, and to receive the power of God in Christ by the Spirit, is to live every day by the Spirit, and for Christ. Without the receiving of the word of God, and that life according to that word, by faith, there is no communion with God. God has chosen His word to be the means of revealing Himself to the hearts of men, so that, believing they might live by the very faith, and power of Christ. So, what did the Lord mean, when He taught His disciples to pray, “…give us this DAY our daily bread?
Every morning when we rise from a night’s rest, we need to take nourishment, or food, for energy. So essential is the need, not only for physical food, but for that which is spiritual, that Jesus makes it one of the priorities in prayer. Note that He says that we are to ASK for it. Why? The God who gives physical food alone can give that which is spiritual. The Apostle Paul wrote that the Spirit of God has been given to us, that “…we might know the things that have been freely given to us of God.” (1 Cor. 2:13) Every day, and every morning, God the Father waits to speak to us through His eternal word, and this by His Spirit, so that trusting, the soul can receive the spiritual food that he needs to live, not only physically, but spiritually, walking with Christ, and living by Him.
Only God knows the needs of the heart and life, and this on a daily, even on a moment by moment basis. The believing soul is truly shut up to God to lead and teach him according to His word. The freshness of daily faith according to God’s mercies which are new every morning, is found in the fresh consciousness of God speaking in and through His word, calling the soul to faith and obedience. The purpose of God, by His word, is to reveal Himself to the soul by His Spirit.
Dear Father, Give us daily bread. In Jesus’ name, Amen.