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, NKJV)
God allowed Israel to be hungry in the wilderness, before feeding them with manna for forty years. God was teaching them a lesson, one that proved difficult for them to remember. The daily bread from heaven they received taught them dependence on God for their daily bread. But, it taught so much more. Israel’s existence in the promised land depended on them living by every word that came from God’s mouth (Deut. 8:1). Jesus used this verse to withstand the devil’s temptation (Matt. 4:4). Jesus is the “bread of God,” the “living bread” who came down from heaven to give us the food that enables us to live forever (Jno. 6:33-35, 48, 51, 57-58). Like Israel, we must know our hunger for eternal life before we are prepared to partake of the bread of God, Jesus Christ, and live forever. Our hunger for eternal life leads us to know that we only have life when we keep every word of God (Rom. 1:16-17).
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