November 16

---

So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD. Deuteronomy 8:3

---

🔊 God’s ways with His children are not harsh.  They are full of grace and care.  Imagine the opposite of the above.  It would read something like this: “So He allowed them everything they wanted, and let them feast on all the food they desired till their appetite for spiritual things was completely spoilt, and they completely lost all thirst for God’s Word or Presence.” This would be a supreme tragedy.  God shapes our circumstances so that we may hunger for something better than what we have around us.  The manna is a symbol of food in another dimension.  Spiritual things do not merely involve learning more information or skills, like studying astronomy or languages or plumbing do.  Knowing the things of God involves the faculties of our conscience, our spirit and our will.  We have to enter into the realm of the Spirit and the Kingdom of God.  If we continually feed our bodies and minds to their full capacity with other things, we will find that we have no thirst for the things of God.  There will be a dimension we have completely missed.  The door to this dimension is the Word of God.  Food, intellectual stimulation and entertainment all have their place in a balanced life, but none of them can satisfy our heart’s thirst for God.  When a child rejects the wholesome food its mother has prepared, she will ask: “What have you been eating?”  If we have no hunger for God, we need to look at the vain things we have been over-indulging in.  If we will not make the right choices, God will lead us into a wilderness where we can no longer find the things we once relied on for our happiness.