Deuteronomy 8:3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

The human condition abhors hunger. We wake up hungry. We fail to get rest if we are hungry.

The true lesson of the manna from heaven was lost on those in the wilderness as it is stated in the opening passage. They didn’t know. Now we have an opportunity to learn that lesson.

John 6:35-40 English Standard Version

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

When He taught us to pray He said to include “Give us this day our daily bread.” That is a plea to us to read our bible every day. Jesus is the Word and He is the Word of life and He is our daily bread.

Our problem as human’s is that we get satisfied and we think of hunger as a physical experience while being hungry for the spiritual word.  We do not feel the familiar pangs of hunger physically. We see that lack of physical food leads to weakness but we do not recognize the spiritual weakness that can happen because we maintain confidence in our memory of the Word and think that is the same thing as feeding ourselves. It is not.

1 Corinthians 8:2 If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.

The knowledge of God is not a head thing, it is a heart thing. The abiding Spirit is not in our heads but rather in our hearts. The Spirit reminds us of what Jesus said in the Word when we need it. It is not our intellect that chooses what is needed.

The Jews of John 6 resented Jesus when He declared that He was the bread of life. They were stuck in the ritualistic ordinances of the priest’s bread that was forbidden for anyone to eat but the priest. Jesus changed all that.

He said, “This is my body, take eat.” When man is stuck in ritualist ordinances they are not open to what God can do for them every day.

Philippians 2:5-8 (English Standard Version)

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Be humble because we are human. Be obedient because that connects us to Christ.

Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

I was small in stature in high school but I had a really large big brother. When he had my back I was not afraid of anyone. Just because he had my back did not mean I was strong. That was physical strength. Ephesians 6:10 is talking about spiritual strength.

11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Fighting an enemy that cannot be seen is a difficult thing and it seems counterintuitive to say humility is the key to putting on our spiritual armour. We must look at it from the standpoint of being still and allowing Christ to dress us for this battle. He will not hand us the next item for warfare if we say “I got this!” Overconfidence is the leading edge of pride.

Another analogy is when joining the Army I was given a weapon. Having it does not mean we are proficient in its use. Being equipped in one thing, being trained is another. 

• Matthew 13:52 And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
• Luke 6:40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.
• 1 Timothy 4:6 If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.
• Hebrews 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Those who have ears, let them hear. AMEN