“And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made 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 4:3-4). “Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Matthew 7:9-11). When we are hungry, it would make sense for our Father to give us bread. If we are building a wall, then it would make sense for God to give us a stone. Our Heavenly Father always gives us the best gifts, which sometimes lines up with what we want, and sometimes doesn't. When Satan tempted Jesus to command the stones that they be made bread, what he was really saying is that the gift God gave you, these stones, is not a good gift. You should send it back and demand something better. But Christ's response is the perfect rebuttal. We can't live by bread alone. Bread can satisfy our hunger but it can't clothe us or shelter us or get us to where we need to go. God has other gifts for us besides just bread. And yes, some of those gifts are stones. Some of God's words for us are hard to hear, heavy to bear, but we need stones just as much as we need bread. We are to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God - the bread and the stones, the pleasant and the unpleasant, the hard and the easy, the joyful and sorrowful. We never know when a dull, lumpy stone might be cut and polished into a beautiful diamond. I hope that we will all choose to not live by bread alone, but will embrace the soft and the hard gifts of God and live by every word that proceeds from His mouth.
