Day 2 - A Hunger for God’s Word

Read: Psalm 119; Matthew 4:1-11; John 6; 1 Peter 2:1-3

Matthew 4:1-11 takes us to the heart of gospel. For the cross of Christ to be sufficient to pay the price for our sins, there must a sinless Christ to hang upon it. Matthew 4 tells us of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness for forty days and nights. This was no accident as Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. At the end of this time of fasting, we are told that Satan tempts Jesus to sin by abusing His power as the Son of God to short-circuit the plan of God.  In Satan’s first temptation, he offers a simple solution to Jesus’ hunger—turn these stones into bread. You’ve got the power to do it, right? In Matthew 4:4, Jesus replies (quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3): “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus’ quotation of Deuteronomy in the midst of His temptation in the wilderness brings to mind Israel’s wildnerness wanderings, but with one key distinction—where Israel failed to obey, Jesus obeyed the Father perfectly. He would ultimately submit Himself to the cross as the sinless substitute for our salvation.

The point of Matthew 4 passage isn’t how we should fast, but how Jesus’ forty days of prayer and fasting reveals Him as the sinless Savior. Yet, in the midst of His temptation, He shows us a vital truth we must apply to our lives today: we must live by the Word of God. To recall our theme from yesterday, a hunger for God will not grow apart from a hunger for God’s Word. Are you feasting on God’s Word? Are you finding the words of Jesus as the words of life? (John 6:68) In the words of Peter, we ought to “long for the pure, spiritual milk of the word, that by it you may grow up int salvation.” (1 Peter 2:2) If God’s Word is like the necessity milk is to an infant, how healthy are you?

Prayer Points:

• Confess any ways in which you’ve neglected God’s Word.

• Pray for God to help you grow in knowledge and love for His Word.

• Pray for God to bear fruit through the preaching of God at TCC, men’s and women’s Bible. studies, discipleship groups, and Equip Classes.