December 4

But Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” — Matt 4:4 BSB

“Man shall not live by bread alone.” There’s heavenly food to sustain the soul, just as there’s earthly food to sustain the body. If a person is spiritually sustained by every word that comes from God’s mouth, and if that’s the only food God's people truly have, then we often feel like we have so little. If you and I rely only on the religion that comes from what God has spoken into our souls, if that’s the bread we live on, if that’s what gives strength to our hearts and is our portion in life and death, then it shrinks our religion down so much that at times we need a microscope to see if we have any at all.

But this is how we learn the lesson that “man does not live by bread alone.” We can’t live by head knowledge of doctrines. We can’t live by outward religious gestures. We can’t live by rites, forms, or ceremonies. We can’t live by anything that comes from our own efforts. Spiritual life is first given by God and sustained by every word that proceeds from His mouth. What God teaches, we know; what God works in us, we feel; what God gives, we possess; what God speaks to our hearts, we hold in our souls, as if from the very lips of the sovereign Majesty Himself.

But what a narrow path this is! It strips away all self-righteousness! It humbles us to the ground! With all our religion, we have nothing except what God gives, and we can’t get a single grain of it by our own efforts. We live not by natural bread, but by every word that comes from God’s mouth. How can we spiritually survive unless the Lord speaks to our souls from time to time?