"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4)
These are the words of Christ, and their application is as universal as the term "man." It is for each one of us to ask ourselves whether we find life in the word of God, or whether we live merely by physical food. If the latter, we are certainly not living as God designs that we should.
Some of us spend much time thinking about what we shall eat and how we may contrive to obtain it. Certainly then we should welcome any additional means of life that is placed within our reach, and endeavor to appropriate all that it has for our benefit.
God is the Author and Sustainer of all life, and He wants man to recognize this fact. He it is that gives all living creatures their food. But He sent the Israelites manna direct from heaven, that they might recognize that behind all the operations of nature are God and His word, without which those operations would instantly cease.
But while there is not life for man in everything that grows, there is life for him in every word spoken by God. He gets that life by faith. Simple, perfect belief, united to the smallest word of God, constitutes the "faith as a grain of mustard seed," (Matthew 17:20) which is able to remove mountains. God is life, and faith connects us with God; and he who is connected with God cannot die until God wills it; and even then he simply "sleeps" for a season, having still eternal life in Christ.--Present Truth, March 29, 1894--Timeline: II-3 (The Temptation)--Matthew 4:4.