The Problem With Bread Alone

While the world has made substantial steps in feeding its increasing population, which stands at 8.1 billion in 2023, ‘Another Category of Malnutrition’ remains. This is a category that people can debate about and ignore when strategizing and budgeting for our global needs, which I don’t have any problem with because who can budget for the bread of life anyway? Furthermore, it would not be for our good were human authority to determine our spiritual nutrition; they have always messed up with it and have given people stones instead of bread. 

If you remember or are familiar with the history of the Bible, there was a time when King Jeroboam, Son of Nebat, was privileged to be in charge of the spiritual nutrition of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He profaned everything sacred and choreographed desecrated counterfeits running concurrently with the real bread of life being served in the consecrated ovens of Jerusalem. On the day of Atonement, one of three days that the children of Israel were to appear before the Lord, he had his own counterfeits with standards of holiness and righteousness sagging to the ground. There cannot be a better case study for the two evils that Prophet Jeremiah warns God’s people of—forsaking God, the fountain of living waters, and hewing for themselves broken cisterns that hold no water (Jeremiah 2:13). 

Would it be safer for somebody or a religious organization to decide on our spiritual nutrition? I don’t think so. Human beings all through history have demonstrated what they can do—replacing every true cistern with broken cisterns that can hold no water. If we ever decide that we cannot live by bread alone, we better ensure our supply is from living sources. 

Christ, in the wilderness of temptations, tired and hungered, was tempted by the tempter to turn stones into bread. But He answered and said, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.’” [Matthew 4:4]. Christ actually quoted what he had taught the children of Israel in their journey to Cannan. 

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. [Deuteronomy 8:3].

This statement talks about the literal food we eat every day on our dinner or breakfast tables. Christ taught that if life must be achieved, it will take more than a balanced diet and food security. We can be strong and physically fit, but that is not enough for us to have life in its fullness. 

An article posted on Verywell Health Blog on 22 Apr 2023 suggests that people can go for about 40-50 days without food and are likely to start dying between days 43-70.  The rule of three, on the other hand, suggests that a person can live for 3 minutes without air (oxygen), 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food. All these are blanket estimates, ignoring special underlying cases that can change the result further. To avoid crumbling down, we secure our food security on a sure foundation with great farming techniques and careful budgeting. But what about our spiritual bread, which is every word of God? 

How long can you go without the word of God before you begin dying?  

This is a worthy question, and an honest answer will influence how you live life daily. Most people’s spiritual nutritional pattern takes the form of once a week. After spending time with God on the Sabbath, they close the chapter and travel the entire week waiting for the next sabbath.  Their Bibles and prayer mats gather dust for want of employment to provide them with spiritual strength. 

In contrast, everyone keeps their kitchen and dining tables active daily.

With good nutrition comes physical strength and motivation to do a few things. Unfortunately, this is where the problem of bread alone starts—a bunch of energetic men and women attempting to live on bread alone. With bodies charged with reasonable quantities of Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP), people go around expending their energies, but what do they gain from it? Is it not disappointment? 

The word of God is needed to reconcile our character and actions with the precepts of Jehovah. Unfortunately, men and women go around charged with substantial kilojoules of ATP but without the speed governor found only in the instructions of Jehovah. The result is a terrible overspeeding towards things that profit not.  Many lives are made to take the form of a motorist overspeeding towards a precipice, only to be awakened by a terrible reality that they are too far from the path of safety. 

In our natural states, we do not desire holiness or doing things God’s way. To put it succinctly, there is nothing in the flesh that desires obedience or Godliness. A few verses in the holy writ describe how human beings in their natural states regard the things of God:

 And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. KJV Exodus 5:2

Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him? KJV Job 21:14-15

That is all of us when we act as we were born. The word of God, the true light, answers these questions that carnal nature asks. To Pharaoh’s question, the word of God reveals God as a creator and a redeemer who will not leave any stone unturned to save us, even if it needs going to die on Calvary.  And to the prosperous deans of wickedness that Job talks about, the Bible answers godliness with contentment is great gain. And that if we pray unto God, He will answer us. 

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. KJV 2 Chronicles 7:14

Bread alone is, therefore, a recipe for disaster. After securing your kitchen supplies with good food, add a consistent flow from the oven of “every word of God,” and you will be surprised how fruitful your life will be. Otherwise, man cannot live by bread alone. Bread alone produces healthy and strong people who are not concerned about eternal things. Such energies and fitness will be used to make this world more broken and to endanger the eternal security of one’s soul.