I Am Because You Are September 2, 2025 Devotional

MATTHEW 4:4-6 | ⁴ But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” ⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶ saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ ”

DEUTERONOMY 8:3 | ³He humbled you by letting you  hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

The glutton and the gourmand make a similar mistake—they invest too much hope in gustatory pleasure. Jesus teaches the Evil One, using Deuteronomy 8:3, that we need spiritual food to flourish. The phrase “words that come from God’s mouth” refer to Scripture and to God’s desire to have “facetime” with us.

Manna was a necessary but not sufficient sustenance in the wilderness for Israel. They were being formed into a new society in order to exercise a new freedom in the promised land. It was to be a spiritual society, sustained through its members’ covenant relationship with God. This relationship was fed by God’s direction and revelation, which showed His will and ways.

Are you sustained by the words of God’s mouth?

Gracious God,

Pleasure is never enough to sustain our souls. Open my life, my time, and my heart to Your truth and direction.

Amen.