During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.” But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” – Matthew 4: 3-4 NLT
Have you ever gone grocery shopping when you were hungry? Have you ever noticed that your grocery bill goes up by about 40% when that happens? Why is that? It happens because when you’re hungry, everything looks good, doesn’t it?
Even food you don’t like get’s thrown into your card when you’re hungry. I don’t like tomatoes – but if I’m shopping when I’m hungry, I’ll throw some in the cart, because you never know. Maybe I’ll put them on an omelette… maybe… Then I take that food home and it goes bad before I even eat it and I’ll ask myself, “Why did I even buy these tomatoes? I don’t even like tomatoes!” I was hungry. That’s the reason. And when you’re hungry – everything looks good. Even stuff that isn’t food looks like food when you’re hungry enough.
Jesus hadn’t eaten anything for 40 days – He had been fasting. And the devil told Jesus, “Turn these stones into bread!” This isn’t a test of Jesus’ hunger. It’s a test of his VISION.
Jesus said, “First of all, I can see with my own eyes that these are rocks, they’re not food. In order for me to make them into food, I’m going to have to supernaturally turn them into something they’re not so I can fill a temporary desire with a temporary pleasure. But God’s Word says that man does not live by bread alone – meaning that even if they WERE food, which they’re not, that bread is only going to fill me up temporarily – but the Word of God is going to fill me up spiritually – and nourish me eternally. God’s Word is going to satisfy me at a much deeper level. So forgive me, Satan, for passing on turning these rocks into breadsticks – rocks aren’t food! That’s why God didn’t put them on the menu!” Isn’t this what the devil does in your life, too? Make rocks look like they’re the featured item on the menu?
The first time I ever had to take my dog, Rosie, to the vet, she had eaten a flower that can be poisonous to dogs and she got really lethargic and sick after she ate it. So we took her into the vet. I don’t know why dogs, Beagles in particular, think everything is food, but they do. Rosie was in the back while the Vet was examining her, and a man came into the writing room with his big, beautiful Golden Retriever. I pet the dog for just a second, and I asked the owner, “What was this good boy in here for?”
The man said, “Well, I was grilling steaks on the patio at my house, and the patio has an area where I keep the grill that’s got some stone and gravel around it. And as I was putting the steaks on the plate for dinner, I knocked the grill by accident and the tray under the grill that catches all the juices from the meat – it spilled onto the rocks. So while my family and I were eating dinner, this guy smelled what had been spilled onto the rocks and ate the rocks… She ate ALL OF THE ROCKS. So I just had to spend $3,500 to have rocks removed from his stomach because he doesn’t know the difference between a real steak and a rock that smells like a steak!”
Do you know the difference? Jesus does! Jesus said, “That’s not a steak. That’s a rock. I don’t care how much the devil tries to make it look like a steak and smell like a steak – that’s a rock. And eating rocks will kill me.” Jesus knows the difference because God’s word gives Him clarity about what’s on the menu.
So when you’re straining, and you’re wanting, and you’re lacking, and you can’t see real clearly, God’s word can tell you – “HEY! This is food, this isn’t. This is what God is serving, and this is what will kill you.” Jesus said, “Don’t get me wrong – this is a temptation. It’s TEMPTING! But when I put on the corrective lenses of God’s word, I have clarity about what’s on the menu so I know what to order and what to eat. Without it, I’m going to ingest a bunch of things that are just going to land me in an emotional emergency room because the devil poured steak sauce on it, but it’s just a rock – and God didn’t put rocks on the menu for me!”
That man you thought you could fix if you got into a relationship with him? He’s not on the menu – he’s a plate full of rocks. That website you visited for some temporary snack food last night? That’s not a snack. It’s a pile of rocks. That glass in front of you when you’re tempted to say, “I can handle one more?” That’s a glass full of rocks. We keep thinking that rocks look like food.
One of the reasons it’s so important to read your Bible and know God’s Word is that God’s Word brings so much clarity to the food that He serves to meet the desires He gave you. If you’re not clear about what’s on the menu, then we tend to be people who will order anything… eating piles and piles of rocks, hoping and praying that maybe this time, they’ll turn into bread.