Live by God's Word - Not On Bread Alone

During that time the devil came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread." But Jesus told him, "No! The Scriptures say, 'People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'  Matthew 4:3-4

Jesus was in the wilderness for forty days. Can you imagine how hungry and thirsty you would be going without food AND water for forty days? How long can a person survive without water or food?

After reviewing several websites it seems that a person could exist for several hours to several days without water, but it is impossible to predict precisely how long anyone can survive due to many variables involved including ambient temperature, health conditions, age, and activity level--such as exercising. Survival without food is another scenarios that has many variables, but people gave been known to survive 21-40 days fasting from all food.

Consider that it would have been hot at any time of the year that Jesus would have spent 40 days in the Judaean desert. The daytime temperatures vary from 20.5 C in January to 39.7 C in July (that is 68.9 F to 103.5 F). Their rainfall varies from 0 to 9 mm (0.35 inches) each month. That is very dry! And little if anything grows there--so Jesus would not have had much food available to Him on which to  just nibble.

Do not live by bread alone. Hmm...yes, let's have some meat and potatoes with that bread--or at least some salad and veggies. That is not what Jesus was talking about. The scripture He was quoting is found in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy.
      - Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Deuteronomy 8:3
The word of God provides us with spiritual food...spiritual "bread" that is necessary for life. Where to we find that spiritual bread? It is the word of God--the Bible. Another reason to be reading God's word every day...and applying it to or lives. By what bread are you living?

Prayer ~ Lord, give us this day our daily bread. Show us not only morsels from Your truth--but generous loaves of truth that reveal and sustain us with Your Love and Your Grace in our lives. Thank You.  

Daily Bible Reading: Job 24-28

© 2018 Text and photos by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved. 

All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted
Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm. www.blueletterbible.org/daily reading.