Deuteronomy 8:3-6 And he humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you knew not, neither did your fathers know… What is the life for which we seek and hope? Mere existence? No. But conscious happiness — a large preponderance of success over disappointment, and joy over sorrow. This is what all desire; but they seek it in different ways. Our text suggests two theories of life; — the one, the living by bread alone; the other, by obedience, duty, and love, by angels food, by the manna that comes down from heaven. I. MAN DOTH NOT LIVE BY BREAD ONLY. Yet multitudes think thus to live — by things outward and earthly, by the accumulation of material, perishable objects of enjoyment, or of wealth, which can represent and command them all. Can wealth sustain or comfort the bereaved husband or father? When the strong ties of natural affection are sundered, is it a solace to know that they had been gilded and jewelled? If they were not strengthened and sanctified by Christian communion, by the fellowship of heaven-seeking souls — if the only common interests have been sordid, then has the prosperity enjoyed together left the survivor only the heavier burden of remembrances not again to be realised, and of joys forever fled. II. WHAT, THEN, ARE THE ELEMENTS OF THIS HIGHER LIFE? Since man, spiritually speaking, cannot live by bread only, by what is he to live? 1. First by faith — faith in an all-seeing Father, whose sceptre ruleth over all, and who, if our hearts are His, will cause all things outward to work together for our good — faith in a Redeemer, who has loved us and given Himself for us as our Saviour from sin, and our Guide to duty and heaven. 2. Again, man, by the appointment of God, is to live by hope — by the hope of heaven, which alone can anchor the soul amidst the fitful fortunes of our earthly pilgrimage. 3. By God's appointment, we are also to nourish our souls by charity, by sympathy with our brethren, by bearing their burdens and helping their joys. There can be no life worth living without brotherly love — without a ready heart and hand for the needy, the suffering, and the erring. 4. Finally our true life must he connected with, and flow from, the testimony of a good conscience, which, if merited, no outward condition can suppress or pervert. III. Such are the heaven-appointed means of life and growth within the reach of all of us. IT IS THESE THAT OUR SAVIOUR PROFFERS TO US. They were His peace and joy. They are the fountain still flowing at the foot of His Cross. Other streams there are, sparkling, attractive, rolling over golden sands and beneath a brilliant sky; yet there is a voice in their murmur, ever saying, — "He that drinks of us shall thirst again, and thirst as often as he comes to draw." But from the mountain of the beatitudes, and again from the olive shade of Gethsemane, and from the darkness and agony of Calvary, I hear the voice, — "If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink, and the water that I will give him shall be in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life." (A. P. Peabody.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. |
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