What it Means to Live on the Word of God Daily – Deuteronomy 8:3

I find it fascinating that the more I read and look closely into the journey of God’s children through the wilderness that there is so much for us to learn from their journey. There is so much God wants us to learn from their walk with Him, hence the reason He took His time to share their stories with us in the bible.

A scripture that I came across this week which stopped me in my tracks is one that Jesus quoted when He was tempted by the devil in Matthew 4:4 – it is written that “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God“. Only thing is that I read it in another context this week, I read it from the book of Deuteronomy 8:3. And in this case, it was Moses addressing God’s children as well as teaching them some paramount things as they journeyed with God. Moses opens up his admonition to God’s children by telling them to be careful to obey all that God has commanded them to do- Deuteronomy 8:1.

Then He goes on to remind them of the hows and whys God took them through peculiar phases in the wilderness. “Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands“. –Deuteronomy 8:2. The keywords for me in this verse are humble and test; God led them through the wilderness journey so that they could grow in character and become like Him-humble, meek, and Holy. Even more so, the scripture points us to the fact that for forty years, God was closely observing and testing His children, giving them different tasks and circumstances to see who really was growing in stature and in His nature. A great question to ask is, “Did any of God’s children in the wilderness grow in stature and nature” Perhaps a few of them grew, or perhaps not. I am of the opinion that they did not grow as much as God would have wanted them to grow because God had to keep testing them over and over for Forty years. For forty gruesome years, the Israelites went through hunger and multiple testings when it should have only taken them three days or maybe a few months at most. God’s original plan was to journey with His children for three days to the land flowing with milk and honey- Exodus 3:18, Exodus 8:27. Isn’t it intriguing that a three-day journey turned into a forty-year journey?! Now a good question to ask ourselves is, “Are we growing just as God wants us to? Are we passing the character tests God has posed us with?

Finally, Moses tells God’s children about God’s love for them and how He shows it through the ways He disciplined them. Bringing it all together, I can see clearly that God wanted so much from His children, He wanted to be upright in character, morals, and most importantly their walk with Him. But they were so focused on receiving without regard for growth and for this reason, God kept them circling the same region for years. A comparable example is Abraham who was tested as well by God and as soon as God saw that Abraham’s heart was all His, He took Him to the next level in His walk with Him and blessed Him the more- Genesis 22:1-17

Then Moses continues his admonition in Deuteronomy 8:3 by reminding the Israelites how God provided supernatural food for them daily. God did so to teach His children that they need more than just food to live and thrive in this life. As much as we need food, so does every man need the word of the Lord to grow daily. If we took a poll of successful men and women today and the secrets to their successes, I am 100% sure that they all wouldn’t attribute their success to eating good food. A lot of factors contribute to a man’s success and one of them is great Character, and the word of God is effective to mold and build solid characters in men and women. Have you heard The Lord even goes ahead to tell us in Joshua 1:8 that good success is only achievable and attainable when we feast and meditate on the word of the Lord day and night. And one of the things the word of the Lord helps us to achieve is a great character.

Now, let me attempt to bring everything all together – I see and know that God wants to keep leading us to lands and regions of expansion and abundance. But more than enjoying these blessings, God wants for us to keep transforming to becoming like Him daily. And this is only achievable by feeding on God’s word daily. Asides from becoming Christlike, our knowledge of God’s word and His power determines our strength through the journey of life. Only if the Israelites took time to learn about God the way Moses did, they would have exhibited more strength and stamina when they were faced with challenges.

As I close, I believe that the Lord is calling us to a place where we compare our image with that of Christ. How much of God’s word are we feeding on daily? How much of God’s word are we allowing to mold and make us? I also believe that He wants us to go beyond just striving for trivial and fickle success but strive towards achieving good success as described in Joshua 1:8

May we be marvelously helped to live on every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord in Jesus’ name.