Crumbs || Mouth of God
Jesus was 100% God and 100% human. It’s a concept that racks our human brains because it’s beyond our understanding. Part of being human is that we are tempted. Jesus was not exception to that human reality.
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Once again, Jesus went into seclusion and fasted for 40 days (hello lent!!). Because He’s 100% human, He was hungry! If I didn’t eat for 40 days, I’d love some nice warm banana bread with a slab of butter. So Satan shows up and tries to turn His hunger against Him:
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 4:3-4
Satan may suck, but he knows humans are suckers for bread! He even tries that trick on Jesus. But Jesus says, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Science tells us bread (carbs) has benefits (remember the complex carbs). But Jesus says that sourdough isn’t even to have life, but that the Word of God is also needed to survive.
Not only that, but Jesus didn’t just have some witty response about God’s Word, He quoted God’s Word.
You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. "He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone,but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.”
--Deuteronomy 8:2-3
We’re back to remembering the raining bread...again! (I mean I wish it would rain naan and Texas toast now!) Moses says, remember when God provided, even though you were whiney, ungrateful, and sinful? He was working on your humility, fed you just enough, and all He wanted was for you to rely on Him.
This is soooo me! I whine a lot. I am not nearly as grateful as I should be. And boy, do I sin. Yet God, chips away at my lack of humility. Yet God, gives me my daily bread. Yet God, desires a relationship with me to teach me to live on His Word.
Back to Matthew...Jesus could have said or done anything in that moment. And Jesus chose this verse. He chose to say, “Yes, Olive Garden breadsticks would be great right now and they would probably hold me over after not eating for 40 days. But I cannot survive on them alone. I need God too.”
Jesus (remember, who is 100% God) said He needed the Word of God.
If Moses and his posse needed the Word of God, I guess I might say, “me too.” But when Jesus says He needs the Word of God...me too!
God desires this with you too. God desires to make you humble, to provide your needs, and to fuel your spiritual energy, sustain your faith’s functionality, and give your a purpose-driven life through His Word.
