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Jul 30, 2023 06:00am

Living On Crumbs

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A common theme in the Bible we don’t often talk about is the theme of bread. We often shy away from discussing this because we live in a carb conscious society that’s taught us to view bread as the devil. However, when looking into the word of God, this is not the case.

Here are a few examples, just to name a few:

At the Fall, God pronounced that Adam would have to work for his bread by the sweat of his brow. (Genesis 3:19-19)

God established the Feast of Unleavened Bread with the Jewish people. (Exodus 12)

God supplies manna (aka bread) for the Israelite people as they journey to the promised land. (Exodus 16)

Elijah tests the faith of a widow as he asks her to make him a loaf of bread with the last of what she has for her and her son. (1 Kings 17:7-6)

In John 6:35, we read perhaps the most recognized Scripture about bread when Jesus names Himself the bread of life. He goes on to proclaim that whoever believes in Him will never hunger or thirst.

I don’t know about you, but when I accepted Jesus’ free gift of salvation, I was no longer starving for what my soul had been hungering. The promise of John 6:35 became reality as my faith became sight.

A couple things I know to be true of bread:
-it fills
-is satisfies
-it sustains
-it leaves you wanting more

Though it’s true my soul no longer hungers for salvation, my soul does continue to hunger for being continually sustained by the bread of life.
Jesus says in Matthew 4, that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the Father’s mouth.” As a Christian who seeks to be led by and keep in step with the Spirit, this verse is vital to my Christian walk.

I learned long ago that the Holy Spirit is willing to speak through the Word to as many areas of my life that I allow.

Several months back, I was hungry for some bread; spiritual bread that is.

A friend and I attended a women’s conference. The theme of the weekend was, “Next,” reminding us that no matter where we are at in our Christian walk, we all have a “next.”

Going into the conference I was both prayerfully and anxiously awaiting what God was going to reveal about many of my next’s.

I had my manna moment on day two of the conference. God clearly showed me through his Word my next in the areas of ministry, health, and my personal spiritual journey. I had been praying for clear answers in each of these areas for some time, so I was overjoyed and excited to take the next steps God was asking of me.

God’s Word became life to me; this was the spiritual bread I had been praying to receive. Between the sustenance of his Word and engaging in true worship, I was spiritually sustained, satisfied, and FULL!

I was fully ready to move into the “nexts” God revealed to me. When I got home, I immediately began taking steps towards what I knew God was asking of me.

I wish I could say this was the end of the story, but it’s not. I found that the more I took steps towards what God was asking of me, the harder life became. Mentally and emotionally, I began to struggle. This led to a spiritual struggle to even hear from the Lord.

I was struggling so much so that I began to question if I truly had a manna moment at the conference or not. After a couple months of struggle, I went to talk to a trusted spiritual mentor and friend of mine.

As I described to her what had taken place in my life since the conference, she reminded me of what was going on in Jesus’ life in Matthew 4 when he made his famous proclamation about man living by every word that proceeds from the Father’s mouth. Jesus was in the wilderness, alone, with Satan tempting Him over and over again.

Right before Jesus made His way into the wilderness, He was baptized and identified as God’s son via God’s voice from heaven. Sounds like a manna moment if you ask me.

Jesus went from a manna moment in His faith to a time of temptation and testing of His faith. However, He remembered what would continue to sustain Him–the Word.

My friend told me she had experienced this very thing before as well. She encouraged me to look for the spiritual bread crumbs God was continuing to provide for my sustenance.

Leaving her house, I began to reflect on the new things God was doing in the area of my health and several other small signs of his faithfulness to me as I waged war for the things I knew He had promised.

The main crumb that came to mind was a certain scripture God and been bringing to my attention through many avenues:

Philippians 1:6, ““He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion on the day of Jesus Christ.”

On the good and bad days, no matter how I have felt or what has been going on around me, Philippians 1:6 has sustained me through the wilderness.

I’d much rather live in a constant spiritual season of baguette feasting, but I’ve come to know that I can live on every word, even the crumbs, that come out of His mouth.