Several nights ago I dreamed I was in Panera Bread trying to order dinner.  Three times I wasn’t listened to and ended up with a PBJ (which I hate) on plain white Bunny Bread.  I woke up frustrated and hungry.  I do not share this in order to make a deep spiritual allegory, only to let you know that this devotion is about bread.  May you finish this more satisfied and longing all the more deeply for the Bread of Life.  Enjoy!

people and bread

We all hunger.  It is part of the human experience, a need to maintain, to build strength, to find pleasure, to live.  Bread is first mentioned in the Bible very early on-it is in fact, a part of the fall, “by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground…” (Genesis 3:19).  And so from the very beginning we see a struggle-what we need to survive and to maintain strength will not come easily but with much effort.  We hunger, we have need.

god and bread

Throughout the Bible, the significant mentions of bread are tied to the miraculous.  Melchizedek, King of Salem and priest of the Most High God, without beginning or end, blesses Abraham and refreshes him with bread and wine (Genesis 14).  Unleavened bread becomes a symbol and reminder, an intricate part of the Passover and Israel’s liberation from Egypt (Exodus 12).  Manna appeared each morning for years, sustaining the Israelites in the desert, bread from the Lord (Exodus 16).  Christ’s first temptation was to turn stone into bread (Matt. 4), and He fed thousands with a few loaves of bread and some fish (John 6).

Matthew Henry notes that the bread and wine brought forth by Melchizedek represents God’s spiritual provision of strength and comfort.  And you see this theme continue.  Each miracle listed above reveals the Lord’s ability and desire to provide for His people, to sustain and to strengthen them.  In the desert, where it would  be impossible to find food for an entire wandering nation, no one went hungry for 40 years.  He taught His children to look to Him to provide, and this is why Christ’s first temptation was actually a temptation.  At first glance, one wonders what would be so wrong with Christ commanding the stones be turned to bread, after all, there is no command against this and he was hungry (he’d been fasting for 40 days!).  He needed bread.  However, in turning the stones to bread, his actions would fly in the face of God–in a sense taking his care and provision into his own hands rather than trusting in the Lord to provide, “He (Satan) tempted him to despair of his Father’s goodness, and to distrust his Father’s care concerning him” (Matthew Henry).  It was not the miracle that was the issue, it was the heart in it-am I to satisfy my desires in my own wisdom or look to God to satisfy them?  And God provides well-”Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.” (Matthew 4:11).  Bread is a reminder of God’s perfect provision.

christ and bread

Shortly after He fed the 5,000 (actually in the same chapter) Christ described Himself as “the bread of life” (John 6).  Where his followers sought another miracle and a free meal, He instead challenged their hearts.  Just as bread is a source of life for us, Christ is the source of eternal life.  He repeatedly tells the crowd that whoever comes to him and whoever believes shall never hunger or thirst.  Where they were looking for the temporary and the physical, Christ spoke of the eternal.  We see this same image repeated at the last supper, the bread becoming His body, broken for us (Matthew 26), and in this He becomes the superior bread.  Matthew Henry writes:

Manna was given to Israel; so Christ to the spiritual Israel. There was manna enough for them all; so in Christ a fullness of grace for all believers; he that gathers much of this manna will have none to spare when he comes to use it; and he that gathers little, when his grace comes to be perfected in glory, shall find that he has no lack. Manna was to be gathered in the morning; and those that would find Christ must seek him early.Manna was sweet, and, as the author of the Wisdom of Solomon tells us (Wisd. 16:20), was agreeable to every palate; and to those that believe Christ is precious. Israel lived upon manna till they came to Canaan; and Christ is our life. There was a memorial of the manna preserved in the ark; so of Christ in the Lord’s supper, as the food of souls.

Bread is a symbol of Christ’s perfect and eternal provision, His mediation on our behalf, that we might have life.

one step further

  • When are you most tempted to question God’s goodness towards you?  Why?
  • What is the biblical truth concerning this matter? (hint: if you don’t know immediate verses, see http://www.blueletterbible.org/ and do a word search–every verse containing this word will be referenced)
  • Do you view God as your provider?  How does this affect the way you live?
  • Spend some time praising the Lord for his provisions, praising Christ for being the Bread of Life, the perfect meeter of our need created at the start of the fall.