The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.” Isaiah 40:8
After fasting for forty days and forty nights, Jesus was hungry. Devil the tempter came to Him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” But Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
Why did Jesus answer devil in such a way!! What did He mean by that? Was He trying to say that food is not important for living? No, not at all. Let us see the deep insight behind it.
Food is necessary till we are in this earthly body. But only food will not keep us going in this life, when we face various trials, difficulties, sorrow, pain etc. Then from where will we get hope to go through all the troubles of this life! David says in Psalm 119:50 that, ‘THIS IS MY COMFORT IN MY AFFLICTION, FOR YOUR WORD HAS GIVEN ME LIFE.’ David recognised the above truth when Saul was after his life. When he was going through terrible times, he was constantly reminding himself about God’s old judgements to comfort himself. ‘I remembered Your judgments of old, O Lord, and have comforted myself.’119:52 In fact, God’s statutes have been David’s songs in the house of his pilgrimage. (119:54) Further because of the oppression of his enemies he confessed that, “Unless Your law had been my delight, I would then have perished in my affliction.”
I have heard few testimonies – when disappointed people tried to kill themselves, but before they commit suicide, because of God’s mercy, they read some Gospel tract or Gideon Bible placed in their room & at that very moment they changed their mind. As if, they found a ray of hope in their dark hopeless situation. And thereafter, their whole life drastically changed. What do we think about such real life incidents? Was it magic? No. It is the transformation power of His Word. It was not any magic or their success, their possessions, achievements, bank balance, or anything else but it was His Word who gave them a new life, new hope to live a meaningful life. And that was one of the reason Jesus replied to the devil that, “MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.”
When Daniel & his 3 friends with other young men of Israel were sent for ‘Chaldean Language & Literature Training’ for 3 years, king Nebuchadnezzar appointed for them a daily provision of the king’s delicacies and of the wine which he drank, so that at the end of that time they might serve before the king. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank. Daniel obeyed with whole of his heart the diet given by God for children of Israel in Leviticus chapter 11. With the consent of the steward, Daniel & his friends ate only vegetables & water during the test period of 10 days. And at the end of ten days their features appeared BETTER and FATTER in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king’s delicacies. Also at the end of the training period, when king interviewed them, none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore they served before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them TEN TIMES BETTER than all the magicians and astrologers who were in his entire realm… Here we can clearly see that, it was not the food that made Daniel & his friend healthy & excellent but the obedience towards God’s command given in His Law i.e. His word made them different from others in health, wisdom, knowledge & understanding. (Daniel chapter 1)
When Moses was on Mount Sinai with the Lord for forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses’ hands), he did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with God. So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. (Exodus 34:29 to 35)
What type of food/diet or cream/lotion or facial made skin of Moses shine so brightly? Word says Moses did not eat anything during 40 days & 40 nights. But during those days God was giving Moses – His Words of the Covenant, the Ten Commandments. That was Moses’ spiritual food. He was fed by spiritual solid food. God’s own very presence & His word gave such a divine glow to the earthly body of Moses. Moses was spending most of the time in God’s presence to hear His Laws, Statutes, and Precepts. It says in Deuteronomy 34:7 Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. HIS EYES WERE NOT DIM NOR HIS NATURAL VIGOR DIMINISHED. This is the power of His Word.
John 1:1, 3, 14 says that, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the WORD WAS GOD. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And this Word became flesh & dwelt among us. He was the life.’ In Revelation 19:13 His (Jesus) name is called The Word of God.
Jesus told His disciples in John 6:63, “The Words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” His Words are life & Spirit. That was the deep secret which Jesus revealed to His disciples.
Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away”. Mathew 24:35 One day everything on earth will perish & will be gone. Our degrees, possessions, positions, job, riches will pass away forever but His word will never pass away. His Word is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. (Psalm 119:89). But we give all our time to perishing things & we don’t have time to read & meditate on His Word every day. We spend most of our time after worthless things. Many of us do not show any interest in weekly Bible study. We make excuse or find reasons to not go for Bible study. We have time for every other things coming in our day-to-day life, our importance & interests are in many other things of this world, but not in setting apart time for the study of His living & imperishable Words by which we have been sustained & alive so far. Bible study sounds boring to us. Let us rise up, where we have fallen.
May this be our prayer ‘Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your way.’ (Psalm 119:37)
‘Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.’ (Psalm 1:2,3)
Anjali Jose
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