MOSES goes on to remind the people of the discipline the Lord had passed them through in the wilderness. He "suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee to know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live."
God allowed them to get hungry and then he fed them with strange food — manna. When the people saw it they asked, "What is it? How different to the food of Egypt, where they "ate bread to the full."
But this was that they might learn one great lesson which God gives to every child of His to learn — that man does not live only by the bread which he eats, but he lives by every word that comes out of the mouth of God. Just as the bread feeds and nourishes the body, so that which God speaks gives life to the soul of man.
The children of Israel proved this in the wilderness for the Word of God was all they had. If they wanted food, they had to wait till God spoke the word for it to come. If they wanted water, God spoke the word for it to flow out of the rock for them. There was nothing in the wilderness for them, not even a road to walk on. The Word of the Lord made a way for them, for He said: Go this way, when the cloud moved, and He went before them to find out a resting place for them.
No doubt it was not an easy lesson for Israel, to forget Egypt's food and eat this strange bread which came from God day by day. But we can see how in all this God was weaning them from Egypt and its pleasures, to find all their resources in Him.
How little did they appreciate this manna! They were glad to be delivered from Egypt's bondage but there was much they had enjoyed in the land of Egypt to which they still clung. And are not our hearts much the same? We were so thankful to be under the shelter of the blood, to know the forgiveness of all our sins, and to be delivered from Satan's bondage and power, but how often we have found ourselves going back into the world for help and drawing from its resources.
But God is patiently seeking to teach us to find our all in Christ, who is the true manna, the bread of God from heaven. God wants to be everything to us and He showers us with blessings which the world can never give. He could not teach Israel this lesson in Egypt, He must bring them out into the wilderness for that. And so it is with us, His children now. He makes the world a wilderness to us, after having delivered us from its power, in order that He might wean our hearts from its attractions and its pleasures. Our Christian life would be happier if we learned more to come to God with all our requests and receive from His loving hand all we need for our pathway through this desert world.
God, thine everlasting portion,
Feeds thee with the mighty's meat;
Price of Egypt's hard extortion,
Egypt's food no more to eat.
Art thou weaned from Egypt's pleasures,
God in secret thee shall keep,
There unfold His hidden treasures,
There His love's exhaustless deep.
In the desert God will teach thee
What the God that thou hast found,
Patient, gracious, powerful, holy;
All His grace shall there abound.
J. N. D.
Messages of the Love of God 1/19/1975