B-read

UV 1246/10,000 B-Read
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Matthew 4 v 4

Jesus spoke this uni-verse, quoting from the book of Deuteronomy to fend off the temptation of satan even as He had fasted for forty days and nights and was extremely hungry. He was saying that what sustained Him was every word of what God spoke and His submission and obedience to every word of God. It is not the material things of life that can satisfy our need but it is the Word of God. Man was taught to make bread out of grain but the ingrained nature of man needs the Word in order to live spiritually, eternally, abundantly, fully, effectively, meaningfully, powerfully and joyfully. We see the progression in terms of the food we need in the Bible. First, we hear of the bread made from wheat, then we learn of the manna that God provided as food for the Israelites in the wilderness. Those flakes that tasted like honey provided every nutrient men, women and children needed. Then, we hear from Jesus that He is the Bread of Life that will enable us to live forever. Finally, it is the Word of God that is our daily spiritual bread. Every instruction and guidance that man needs in every conceivable situation of life is contained in the Word. God made our hardware, our bodies. He also prepared the software that is contained in His Word. We can survive by bread alone. We can exist by bread alone but we cannot thrive or find our purpose in life and fulfill it without the Word.

The Israelites collected the heaven- provided “manna” every day to meet their daily need of food. The word “manna” can be expanded as “ Man nutritionally analysed.” It had what man needed in terms of protein for growth and repair, carbohydrates for energy, minerals for strength and vitamins for stimulating metabolism. Similarly, we need to learn at the feet of Jesus and from the mouth of God every day. The Word is our spiritual “manna” all our nutritional requirements analysed and provided in one place. It satisfies our hunger and thirst for truth, inspiration, encouragement, instruction, correction, rebuke and edification. It provides us protein for growth and repair, carbs for energy, minerals for strength and vitamins for stimulating us. We cannot think that we have learnt enough scripture so far in our lives that if we miss a day or a few days, it is alright. Like the young of birds, their feathers not yet grown, their eyes not yet open, their wings not yet strong, instinctively open their beaks to receive whatever the mother bird has brought to feed them, we need to keep our mouths open to receive it from the mouth of God. We need to wait and hang on every word God speaks to us from His Word. This is the bread that we have neither sown nor reaped but God has prepared for us in advance for blessing our spirits, minds and bodies.
The emphasis is on the words “ on every word..”. We need to focus every day on the specific word the Lord speaks into our lives to sustain us. He customizes it to our daily need. This is the prayer Jesus taught us “ Give us this day our daily bread..” It is not an accident that the word “ bread” has the word “ read” in it. What we read blesses our minds, our hearts, our spirits, our lives just as bread satisfies our bodies. It is not half-baked like the concepts and the thoughts and writings of man for man works not with complete knowledge and wisdom but with partial knowledge and wisdom. It is fully baked bread that is wholesome, healthy and useful for every man every day. Every part or every word has the quality of the whole. We need to meditate and apply what we learn from every word and every part every day of our lives. This is the reason I began this life-long top priority activity every day of analyzing every word and phrase of scripture, verse by uni-verse.

Prateep V Philip