It may surprise you to hear this but in order for a man or woman to live successfully they need a regular diet of God’s Word (the Bible). The rest of the above oft quoted verse says, “but by every word that proceeds out the mouth of God.” In other words, there is an additional source of life available to us beyond the physical sustenance of eating. If the enemy of mankind has done anything well in this life to thwart God’s people from living how they ought to live, it has been in talking them out of the importance of the Bible in their day by day living. I think it is reasonable to say that most people don’t really understand the Bible. As a poor substitute for knowing for themselves, they have relied on preachers and teachers during once weekly meetings at church. There is nothing wrong with this per se’ but doing so will usually fail to supply the amount of nourishment required. Add to that, that they will find themselves relying upon what other men say is true potentially in opposition to what God says is true, usually limited by church dogmas and traditions. In this mankind has been hoodwinked and cheated from his greatest source of life and energy. For many, the Bible is a dust covered relic from the past that Grandma used to read. They have been informed by advanced society that it is full of myths and errors anyway and cannot be trusted for life in modern times. In this the egregious deception continues. The enemy of all that is good succeeds in his deceptions because people do not know the truth. “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge” comes to mind. Absent the truth of the Word of God living in a man’s soul, he can never know the peace and victory available to him by having a clear perception of how God works and conversely how evil works. He may be incredibly intelligent and accomplished, but his human knowledge will always come up short when he needs it most. Indeed, man shall not live by bread alone.
One of the first things to clarify is that the Bible, even with some translational errors that are easily ferreted out, was originally given by God. Holy men of God received revelation from God on exactly what to write down. The Bible was designed to be man’s guidebook for living. In it contains all things involving life and godliness. All things! God wanted people to know the true origins of life and subsequently how to live it most abundantly. God never intended for His people to limp around defeated and dogged by life. It was never His desire that men and women would be left to figure out life on their own, by trial and error, mostly painful error. Experience is not the best teacher, God is. You don’t have to go through bad in order to receive the good. Yet that is what people believe today. Some people even believe the many trials and tribulations they face come from God in order to strengthen them. As if God needs evil to accomplish His work. Instead this appears as just another one of the many deceptions people believe because they do not know what the book actually says. (God cannot be tempted with evil, neither does He tempt any man!) People accept sickness and disease as a natural part of life not knowing whether either originate. All sickness and disease have their origins in evil and all healing has its origins in God. But, if you don’t know what the book says, how would you know? So much of what people have been talked into believing is in direct opposition to the Word of God. It is no coincidence that God has preserved His Word so that it is still available to you and me today. God wants you to know and in knowing prevail.
Because the words in the Bible came directly from God, they have life in them. (The words I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life) The Word of God gives life to your weary soul. The word is a lamp unto your feet. Without the light you will remain in darkness and I will add, subject to the darkness. Jesus Christ, also called the Word in the flesh, lived by the book. He never strayed from it. He knew where his life and light came from and as such he always made time to get his personal nourishment. This is the nourishment a man or a woman needs. Food and other things are important, but they do not have the power or the ability to give us what the Word gives us. Absent the Word of God, man is left to grope around in the dark subject to this theory and that new idea. The reason men fall prey so easily to false doctrines, promoted by men, devised by men, originating in evil, is because they have no standard of truth outside themselves. The problem with every false doctrine doesn’t stop at just being not true, but instead brings the opposite results than were intended. Lies in every form end only in corruption and defeat. And your sincerity in believing things that aren’t actually true provides no defense, outside of God’s mercy and favor in your life. So many things I suggest for people to do to combat evil are based wholly on what the Word of God says to do. It is not enough to just be positive. Your positives have to be based on something that is true. Being positive about things that aren’t true and never will be true won’t lead to anything good or anything real. You see, that is what we are after here. We are tired of hope-so notions and things that only lead to more of the same. What we are after, or should be after, is real life. There is enough philosophy and techniques to drown the entire world. One of the methods the enemy uses is to literally overwhelm us with information and opinions. (Ever notice how many vastly differing churches there are?) We are after only one opinion and that opinion comes from God. God wants you to know and God wants you to win at life.
There is a solution to mankind’s dilemma. It is called the Word of God and we have easy access to it. There are principles and keys involved in understanding it. Some parts of the Bible are not written to us, but are still for our learning. For example, we are not under the Old Testament law. Reading the law or worse teaching the law puts a weight on men from which there is little chance for escape. The Bible says Jesus Christ was the end of the law. He fulfilled all of its claims so that you and I would never have to. God never (if the Bible is true) wanted the law, but He had to establish a standard from which He could redeem man. God already knew that none of us with a sin nature in our blood could ever fulfill its claims. So He sent us His son who saved us. Some things in the Bible are literal and some things are figurative. Unfamiliar terms are generally explained the first time they are used. The things God felt should be highlighted and underlined were done so by using figures of speech, which is a study in itself. The subject of this blog, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” is a figure of speech! It is a figure of speech because God who is Spirit does not actually have a mouth. Yet in this God has typed in bold print what is of primary importance. There are many, many examples of this. You can find them with a simple Google search. Once you begin to understand the Word and piece it together (with God’s help of course) you begin to really live and thrive. When Jesus was confronted by the devil himself during the temptations in the wilderness, do you know how he overcame it? He quoted the Word of God that he knew. When the devil tempted him to supply his own needs by turning stones into bread (after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights), he quoted, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” It is no different for you and me today! We win against evil by knowing what the Word says and taking the action the Word says to take. God wants to help you with your problems.
It may seem like an almost impossible undertaking to begin to understand the Bible, but it really isn’t. If you want to know, God will make sure you have access to someone who knows. No man on earth knows it all, but there’s enough of us with an understanding to help you if you really want it. I also used to get batted around in life, tossed from pillar to post with fear and endless bad decisions, and maybe still do on occasion, but I’m also clear on what the Word says and can find help whenever I need it. There are over 900 promises in the Word of God. How many of them do you know? It was never God’s will for you to do this thing alone. God isn’t angry with you nor are you a lost cause. With God it doesn’t matter where you’ve been, but rather where do you want to go? The Word is life and without it you will never find the life you have been looking for forever. The life is here now and it is available to you via the Bible, God’s Word. Man shall not live by bread alone…
Just some good thoughts.