Jesus answered, “It is
written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from
the mouth of God.’”
Matthew 4:4 NIV
In the
beginning of chapter 5 in the book of Deuteronomy Moses calls all the people of
Israel together to lay out for them the commands the Lord had given him. He spends several chapters breaking God
instructions down for them. In Deuteronomy
8:3 God says through Moses, “(The Lord)
humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which
neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live
on bread alone but on every word that comes
from the mouth of the Lord.”
Jesus
made the above statement to Satan, who was in the process of tempting Him after
a forty day fast. Christ was hungry and
Satan told Him “If you are the Son of
God, tell these stones to become bread.” (verse 3) When we are tempted, we
should speak scripture to the temptation.
Satan is not a friendly adversary.
He is cunning and evil and will do whatever God allows him to do to cause
us to stumble. Our main weapon is faith
in God and in His word, as revealed in Ephesians 6:13, “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so
that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and
after you have done everything, to stand.” Verse 17 directly speaks of the sword of the spirit being the word of
God.
Is God’s word flawless in nature and
content? Many men say ‘no’, however,
they don’t know the heart of God. Men make their assessments based on acquired
knowledge as taught by other men. It’s
as simple as this, you either believe the Bible is God’s perfect word to all
men or you don’t. It’s an insult to the author if you cherry pick portions of
scripture which are usually jerked out of context to support your own beliefs.
We are desperately flawed and have no
business calling into question that which is supposed to have been spoken to
spirit led prophets who chronicled what they heard. Our best efforts fall
woefully short of anything the Lord is capable of. Faith in God must give way to trust that His
word is faithful and true. Instead of
picking it a part, it would be far more productive to simply try to live by
it. Until next time, walk with the King
and be a blessing!
Resources: American Heritage Dictionary of the
English Language; The Reformation Study Bible.
