112. Live by God’s words
Deuteronomy 8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee 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.
“The just will live by faith.” “Man will live by every word from the Lord.” The key word in this promise is live. To live according to this promise is much more than to merely survive, although that is a part of God’s promise, you will not starve; you have enough to stay alive; God will provide for you. “To live” is to really live, to be alive, to be present in every moment, to enjoy life in its fullness, to know the blessings of God’s life, and especially to have life eternally without end or diminishment,
Bread keeps you alive, but the Word gives you life. Bread is for physical survival to stay alive on this earth for a time, until you die. The Word is for spiritual living, enjoying God and receiving the benefit of God’s spiritual blessings, and you never die. Physical bread (money) cannot buy love, joy, peace, contentment, satisfaction, well being of soul, and general all around happiness. But a spiritual word from God can give you all these things and bless you with much more. God’s Word supplies every spiritual and eternal need. Living “by faith” and living “by the word” is the same thing. Faith receives the Life by hearing the word of gospel. The Spirit creates faith and life in the heart of the person who hears the gospel of Christ. That Word of God creates new life, nourishes that life, keeps it going, renews the spirit, refreshes the life, and gives energy and restorative power to the life of God that lives within us.
The Word that comes from the mouth of the Lord has more life-giving, life-renewing, life-restoring power than we can believe. We come home from church, we leave the Bible study, we get up from reading Scripture, or we finish our prayers based on God’s Word and something happens to us. We are alive, fresh, new, nourished, full, and invigorated, even if it doesn’t always feel like it. It is still true: something happens. That’s a promise. We can believe it. We live by every word from God.
An additional value attached to this promise is that we may use the Word like Jesus used it to overcome the temptations of the devil. Work the Word. The Word works.