PONDERING... Bread Alone

Deuteronomy 8:2-3  And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.  3  And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

Luke 4:1-4  And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness  2  for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.  3  The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."  4  And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone.'"

3 Quick Observations

1. Jesus knows, quotes, and lives by Scripture. We should do likewise.

2. In Deuteronomy 8, God is using Moses to remind His people about why they were initially punished, and how it was a test of the faithfulness of the new generation. He says He wanted to humble them (taking always self-righteous and unhealthy self-reliance) and provide for them in ways that they didn't even have words for to remind them that this life is all from Him. 

3. Jesus quotes this passage when His is being tempted by Satan. 

I love bread. Like, the low-carb diet isn't even a remote possibility for me. However, life is more than external provision, or flour and yeast. We live by Him and through Him and to Him ( Col 1:16, Romans 11:36).