"He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD."
Deuteronomy 8:3 (NIV)
I don’t like being in need! I have no desire to be in a situation where I have no food or water. Nor do I want to be in a situation where I have no money. We do everything we can to be sure that we don’t end up in need.
This text teaches us that God deliberately leads us (His children) into need. He brought them out of Egypt and put them in the desert, where there was no water, no food and no stores. They didn’t enjoy this aspect of being the children of God, and they actually say that it be better to be slaves in Egypt with food, than free with God and starve (Ex 16:3). The text tells us WHY by teaching us that God leads His children into need for the purpose of cutting us down to size.
The definition of humble (as a verb) is: to make someone understand that they are not as important or special as they thought. God is doing something in our lives constantly. He works and works away with us, bringing us, steering us, guiding us into the place of blessings, the place of safety, into true reliance on the Presence of the Most High God. At first glance it seems harsh, even mean, that God would deliberately humble us. Yet if we take a moment and consider the lesson that they (we) needed to learn, we begin to see the grace, mercy and love behind this humbling.
They needed to learn that humans don’t live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD! All creation is sustained by His mighty Word! (Heb 1:3) We think we can do it - we have the ability to make it happen - which changes to - we have to do it - we have to make it happen, and then God cuts us down to size. He puts us in an impossible situation, in a place where no matter what we do we can’t help ourselves. Then we call out on God and He provides; He moves and it causes us to realize that every aspect of our lives is dependent upon His grace (2 Cor 12:9) and provision. Moses even points out that we forget that God gives us the ability to produce wealth.
How quickly we forget that we NEED God, and then how quickly we realize our need when He leads us into an impossible situation. You know what - why don’t we resolve to sing this prayer to Him every morning, and then our hearts will be ready to say it to Him when all we have in our lives is NEED!
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