Over the last few years I've been thinking on and off about bread. Not just about the food that has seemed to gain such a nasty reputation in the last few years, but about how it can nourish us and keep us going. As a runner I typically use bread and wheat products to help give me energy before a long run or eat it in a meal the night before a race because it will help sustain me through my efforts and help me finish strong.
Bread is such a customary thing to have at a meal, whether in the form of a sandwich, or a loaf of bread with our dinner, or even a slice of toast and jelly for breakfast. Bread seems to be at every meal. In fact a lot of people refer to having a meal together with someone as 'breaking bread together' with them. Even Jesus used the bread at his last meal with His disciples to remind them of what He was about to do.
I think it is somewhat ironic that bread can seem so evil and wonderful to so many people today but I'm not really here to talk about dietary do's and don'ts. Let's just all agree for the sake of argument that if you're hungry a nice hot piece of bread will satisfy you and keep you going. It's amazing how quickly you can get full on the stuff. But, as everyone knows though, it doesn't seem to take too long to get hungry again.
With that in mind it seems like the perfect food for God to reference when He told the Israelites, through Moses, "that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 8:3). This verse is in reference to the manna that the Lord had commanded to fall every day for the Israelites while they were in the wilderness. In essence their bread was provided for them by a word from the Lord. Without that word, there would have been no sustenance.
In the recent years this scripture has become alive to me in a way that it never had before. I had always understood it intellectually but not in a heart-way. The word 'word' in this scripture is the Hebrew equivalent to the word 'rhema' in Greek. Rhema is not just the written word but it is something that is spoken to you. In this case it is something spoken to you by God.
I'm sure you've read the Bible and some days the word seem bland and other days when a particular verse jumps off the page at you. That's a rhema word from the Lord. I'm sure there have been times when you just knew something in your spirit, an answer to a prayer or a solution to a problem. That's a word rhema word from the Lord. There are other ways in which the Lord speaks directly to us but they all lead to the same place: revelation. And revelation has an amazing affect on us.
Revelation is exciting and it's sustaining. I have received revelations that have affected me and helped me for days on end, or weeks. I've had a few that I received years ago and they are still ministering to me today. I've even received a few revelations that I truly believe have saved my life, or even helped me make good decisions about earthly things. My point is, a good revelation from the Lord can keep me going spiritually for a long time and it can make me want to come back for more. These revelations and words keep me alive and excited spiritually.
So I now know what it is like to live on more than bread alone. Yes, we still need bread or food to keep our physical bodies alive. We live in a physical word that requires physical sustenance. But one day our physical bodies will run out of life despite our efforts to keep them going. But a good word from the Lord can last you throughout eternity. So do eat what you need to keep going, but choose to pursue the spiritual bread that only a relationship with God can bring you. Choose seek God and His words of life. Choose to seek the living Word, Jesus, and you'll never run out life again.
Phillip
