The Bread of Man Gone Stale

I realize it’s ironic that I’m about to write about coffee considering the fact that I am reading the Daily Grind, but I want to talk about coffee nonetheless.  For Christmas this year, my mom got a Keurig coffee maker in which you make whole cups of coffee by filling a container with water, putting a premade little cup in the cup holder, and pressing a button.  You can have a cup of coffee within two minutes by just putting a cup in and pressing a button.  (My sister’s boyfriend also has one at his house and probably would like me to advise you that you still have to add the sugar and creamer.)

The very first morning we were going back to school from Christmas break, I signed a mental pact with myself stating that I would limit the number of days I would use it to make a cup of coffee and keep me awake.  Beforehand, I decided that I would not rely to heavily on artificial means to keep me awake.  Today?  Today is just one of those days where I need to make myself a cup of coffee.

Last night, I posted about the SOPA and PIPA acts, and one thing I mentioned is that it would be a wake up call to the young people of my generation.  Now I’m needing coffee to wake up in the morning.  Technology and coffee are two things that many people, Christian and non-Christian, rely on daily.  Not everyone may rely on these things—Amish don’t rely on technology for the most part, and there are those who can’t stand the taste of coffee—but there are things we rely on to get us through our daily messes.  Food is another one of these things—it’s something that none of us can live without.

But what does that verse say?  Man can’t live on bread alone, but also on the word of God?  Matthew being one of the first books of the New Testament, that verse (Matthew 4:4) is seen quite often.  But many versions of the Bible also give in the footnotes where that verse is located, and as stated in Deuteronomy 8:3:

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 find that interesting that God would cause people to hunger.  If that sentence didn’t begin with “He humbled you,” I’d probably turn my head and questions why such a “loving” God would hunger people—take from them something that they relied so heavily on.  But that is there, and I can say, “Ah, he was humbling them.”  If I were to publish a small booklet with a few life lessons I’ve learned, one of them would be this: A humble life is a happy life.

You see, with the way it is right now, I have a reliance on all of these wordly things and an alliance with God.  I feel I can get through the day without God but that he is here to help me and strengthen me, and the rest of these things—I can’t go without.  It’s why fasting was created, why it still exists, and why I don’t think it exists enough.  I have those two reversed: I should have an alliance with these worldly things and a reliance on God.

Yes, if I don't get food, my Earthly body will die. But God WILL provide and I know from this verse that these things are not as important as I may think they are. If I rely so heavily on them, they will fail. They can help me but overall, I cannot rely on them. Therefore, I must form an alliance with them.God, however, is the root of life. He has the highest success rate of all of the things I can rely on: 100%. Not only that, but he knows exactly what is best for me and is able to say no if what I want isn't best for me. He has guaranteed me a full life and peace with it, let alone that his Word created the very ground I stand on. It is essential that I am relying to God on a daily basis.