Devotional: Malnourished Matthew 4:1-4

“But He answered and said, “‘It is written, “man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God’” (Matt 4:4, NASB).

Have you ever been hungry? I mean so hungry that you were willing to eat almost anything; including foods that you do not like? Growing up on the farm and having to work all day in all kinds of weather, I often satisfied my hunger with whatever food my mom cooked. I knew that mom cooked what she had available at the time. More importantly, I knew that I had to have food if I was going to make it through the day. My dad was not going to hear any excuse for not doing my work. I learned to eat what I needed; not what I liked.

In our scripture passage Jesus has recently been baptized by John the Baptist. God announces His approval of His Son. “After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Jesus is immediately led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights. Jesus is hungry. I mean that he is so hungry that one would think that He would be glad to eat anything. So, the devil sees an opportunity to take advantage of Jesus’ circumstances. The devil wants to stop Jesus’ purpose and ministry. The devil has experience. Had he not been able to convince the woman and her husband to ignore God’s command and eat the forbidden fruit? If it worked then, it will work now, he reasons.

The devil tempts Jesus. “And the tempter came and said to Him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread” (v. 3). At this point the devil thinks that food ought to be the priority of Jesus. If Jesus obeys his voice, he will have control of Jesus. However, Jesus does not fall for the devil’s tricks. Jesus knows that taking care of His physical body is not the reason that He is facing this test. Jesus knows that His number one priority is to do the will of His Father. The Father provides food for the body to all people. Jesus, however, has special work to do. He can do His work only if He listens to the words of God. Otherwise He will not be able to accomplish His purpose for coming into the world.

We must follow the example that Jesus sets for us. We must live our lives with the words that Gods gives us. His words take priority over our own desires.

Prayer: Lord we want our lives to be nourished by Your words. Amen.