“And you shall remember all the way by which the LORD your God led you in the wilderness these forty years, to humble you, and to test you, to see what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you, and made you hungry, and fed you with manna, which you neither knew, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but by the mouth of the LORD man must lives by every word” (Deuteronomy 8:2,3).
In the wilderness, God saved Israel from starvation, but not without also causing them to experience hunger. Its purpose was to teach Israel their need for Him, especially their need for His truth. Moses said that God “humbled you and allowed you to hunger and fed you with manna… so that He might show you that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
It is true that we need our Creator. He created us not only to need Him, but a perfect relationship With them. Yet we forget this, most of the time we live as if there is no need to pay attention to the God who created us. We may say grace before dinner on Thanksgiving Day, but more often than not we live as if what we need is going to come from marrying well and making smart career moves — matters that “we control.”
So if it was said of Israel, “He humbled you and made you hungry,” the same can be said of us. Food may not be something we have to do without, but there will be some deprivations, some unmet needs. God will see to it that it happens. He will give us the gift of “need” – to teach us that we are not self-sufficient.
The truth is that we need to be taught what our greatest needs are. We think we know what these are, but our priorities may be dangerously disorganized. We must be taught (sometimes the hard way) that it is by the Word of God that we live, and not by bread alone.
All of this relates to the gospel in a powerful way. There is no greater obstacle to a person accepting the gospel than a feeling of not needing what the gospel offers. If we don’t need God at all, we certainly don’t need His forgiveness, at least by committing ourselves to some plan He might have made for our “salvation.” But the day of reckoning is coming. If our destruction becomes like that of those who have neglected God, it will not be because He did not attempt to break the hard shell of our self-reliance.
“God’s restrictions were given to show us more deeply our need for Him” (Erwin W. Lutzer).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com AreYouaChristian.com
