Deut 8:3, And He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. 
	In this chapter of Deuteronomy, Moses once more reminds the second generation of Israel as to what they need to do. This was not new information for them in any measure. They had been encouraged by Moses in a number of writings as to the full weight of the need to honor and to obey and to love the Lord God with all their beings. They needed this continued reinforcement in order to not begin to trust in their own ways and their own methodologies and their own abilities. They, and we, need to be constantly reminded of our absolute need for God, especially in the times when everything seems to be going well and we are not under the stress and strain of making it through to the next day.
	Sadly, that is the reason that God often needs to so keep us humble, as stated in this morning’s passage. When we are in distress and in absolute need of someone to help us to make it through the wilderness experiences of our death to self, we have no issue calling out to God. We utterly beseech Him daily to meet our every requirement of food and shelter and clothing and health and well-being. We freely acknowledge that we need Him and His provision. We often find those trials and tribulations to be the times of our greatest spiritual growth in Him because we seek Him with all our hearts and minds and beings. We spend ceaseless hours talking with Him and reading His Word. We consider the time spent with Him to be like that of a Father teaching His children what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, and how it needs to be done, all in order to know Him to an even greater extent. 
	However, when we have come through the wilderness, when things are on an even plain and all is right with our lives, then we begin to forget God. We start to think that we were the ones who have made this life a good life. All that we have, instead of being accounted unto the mercy and the grace and providence of the Lord, becomes seen as something that we have done for ourselves. 
We begin to lose ourselves with the idea that all is right with the world, and that is the issue. We are looking at the world rather than to God. We become those harlots who sell ourselves to the idols and the pleasures of this age, completely forgetting unto Whom we are fully indebted and betrothed. We forget to give thanks to God for everything that He has done.
This is the reason that Moses had to tell the Children of Israel, and us, over and over again that our daily sustenance is not by the efforts of our selves. It is all from the Word of God as He showers us with His grace and His truth and His mercy and His lovingkindness. We need to understand in the core depth of our being that everything truly to our benefit and our growth and our sustenance and our life is from God. We need to learn to be humbly and sincerely grateful to God with our entire essence. 
This is the recurring declaration throughout the blessings and the curses from God, through Moses, to His people. Over and over and over again, there is the encouragement that to honor and to obey the Lord and to hold true to Him no matter how great life may seem to be is the only way to be the recipient of His life and good promises of faithfulness.
The Psalmist picks this up for us in Ps 37:3+4, as he makes known the full measure of the joy that will be ours in the Lord. Ps 37:3+4, Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. 
Please notice that the desires of our heart are those desires that deal with our trust in the Lord. We make those choices that do well by God, by ourselves, and by others as we desire to please the Lord. The entire focus of this passage is on cultivating faithfulness, and delighting in the Lord. That is when we will know that we are receiving the desires of our heart because those desires are centered in Him and in pleasing Him. 
This passage has so often been abused and twisted and mangled into a type of formula to be used to get our own way on this earth. It is often misquoted with the intention of making it the means by which we find the desires of our hearts as they are set on us. This is a false hope put on our selfish and limited concepts of what it is that will make us happy, whether that be in possessions, or relationships, or fame, or fortune. 
The true sense and reality of this promise - that our heart’s desire is to know the Lord and Him more and more abundantly - is lost and set aside. What is not understood is that it is often in those times of lack of possessions and all these other earthly lusts that we find ourselves being more and more drawn to the Lord. We seek Him and beseech Him constantly for all that is necessary to make it day to day to day, through all the turmoil and the strife and the storms and the trials and the persecutions of this age. When we learn that we can face it all in Jesus Christ and by His power and in His strength and through His endurance and His wisdom and His supply, then we will recognize, to the ever increasing depths of our beings the well-spring of our desire to know and to love and to be loved by Him. We will delight ourselves in Him and He will be pleased and blessed in our familial relationship.
Again hear the Psalmist in Ps 104:27-34, as he declares the goodness and the mercy and the provision from the Lord of all that is needed as we look to and count on Him. Please turn to it and read along with me, Ps 104:27-34.
Ps 104:27-34, They all wait for Thee, To give them their food in due season. Thou dost give to them, they gather it up; Thou dost open Thy hand, they are satisfied with good. Thou dost hide Thy face, they are dismayed; Thou dost take away their spirit, they expire, And return to their dust. Thou dost send forth Thy Spirit, they are created; And Thou dost renew the face of the ground. Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works; He looks at the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they smoke. I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. Let my meditation be pleasing to Him; As for me, I shall be glad in the Lord. 
Not only is the provision of the Lord in full evidence in this passage, but also the fact that He is to be glorified and honored for that provision. There is nothing of the works and efforts of humanity in evidence herein. It is all the manifest sustaining power of God that is to bring Him praise and honor and adoration from the whole of His creation, especially the humanity which is to know and to desire a living relationship with the Lord God Almighty.
In Is 38:16-19, The Prophet joins this refrain of the sustaining power of the Lord to make us able to know Him as both Lord and Savior. Isa 38:16-19, "O Lord, by these things men live; And in all these is the life of my spirit; O restore me to health, and let me live! "Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; It is Thou who hast kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back. "For Sheol cannot thank Thee, Death cannot praise Thee; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Thy faithfulness. "It is the living who give thanks to Thee, as I do today; A father tells his sons about Thy faithfulness. 
      This passage is filled with the joy of the Lord for all that He does to give us life on this earth in relationship with Himself. He restores us with the presence of His being in our lives. We receive His forgiveness of sins in accordance with His work and not our own in any measure. That then causes us to give Him our earnest and utmost and heartfelt praise and adoration to the point that we want to teach our children to know Him in all His glory. As He is our Heavenly Father Who so instructs and teaches us through all our times of learning His faithfulness in both want and plenty, so we desire for our children and our grandchildren and our great grandchildren and great great grandchildren to have the fullness of His glory abundantly surrounding them all the days of their lives. 
	The Prophet Jeremiah continues this discourse for us in Jer 31:1-6, if you would turn to it. Jer 31:1-6, "At that time," declares the Lord, "I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people." Thus says the Lord, "The people who survived the sword Found grace in the wilderness - Israel, when it went to find its rest." The Lord appeared to him from afar, saying, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness. "Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel! Again you shall take up your tambourines, And go forth to the dances of the merrymakers. "Again you shall plant vineyards On the hills of Samaria; The planters shall plant And shall enjoy them. "For there shall be a day when watchmen On the hills of Ephraim shall call out, 'Arise, and let us go up to Zion, To the Lord our God.'" 
  	Despite all the hard times that we may endure, many of which are our own making because of turning away from God in the times of our wealth and profusion, God is there and He is watching over us. He is making known His everlasting love upon us. We receive the goodness of the Lord, not because we are worthy or deserving of it in any measure, because all we truly deserve in our sinfulness is death. No, we receive of the bounty of His everlasting love because He has determined from before the ages of the ages to so love us. He has loved us with an everlasting love. He has drawn us with loving-kindness.
	That is why we cannot look to this age for anything. We need to continually hold to the reality and the truth of the faithfulness of God to meet our every need, physical, emotional, economical, and most especially spiritual. Our Lord Jesus so counted on His Heavenly Father and His Word as declared during the time of His being tempted. This is recorded in Matt 4:3+4. 
Matt 4:3+4, And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'" 
	He then made a very physical and miraculous display of this provision of God for even the needs of food for the more than 5000 people who listened to His teaching. This is detailed in Mark 6:41-44. 
Mark 6:41+44, And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish. And there were five thousand men who ate the loaves. 
	Jesus also made it very evident that we were not to worry about the provisions that God would make for His own. He is our loving God and we are His people who can trust Him explicitly to meet the every needs of our walk on this earth. Our testimony is to be that of rest and assurance in Him as we honor Him in the every manner of our lives, as we seek after Him with our whole being. Please open to this most familiar encouragement from Jesus to us as recorded in Luke 12:24-32.
	Luke 12:24-32, "Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; and they have no storeroom nor barn; and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds! "And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life's span? "If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why are you anxious about other matters? "Consider the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these. "But if God so arrays the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, O men of little faith! "And do not seek what you shall eat, and what you shall drink, and do not keep worrying. "For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. "But seek for His kingdom, and these things shall be added to you. "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom. 
        The Apostle Paul, in a most familiar and wonderful passage, Rom 8:28-32, reinforces what Jesus told us about not worrying for the needs of this age, what we are to eat and wear etc. We are to keep our hearts focused on the kingdom of God and His work and His grace and His mercy and His love as it unfolds in and all around us. 
	Rom 8:28-32, And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? 
    	As well, in Phil 4:19+20, the Apostle makes it very clear and unequivocally evident that God will make the every provision necessary to take care of us. Phil 4:19+20, And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 
	The Writer to the Hebrews, in Heb 13:5-8, ties everything together for us in terms of how we are to view the place that God has given us on this earth. The Promises of God are sure and eternal. He meets every need and we have nothing to fear. 
	Heb 13:5-8, Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you," so that we confidently say, "The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?" Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever. 
    	Accordingly, as we read the words of the Lord as expressed through Moses to the Children of Israel, let us ever hold near and dear the truth of all that God has manifestly lavished upon us in Jesus Christ. He is the Living Word of God as detailed in John 1:1-16. 
John 1:1-16, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John. He came for a witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came that he might bear witness of the light. There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him, and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'" For of His fulness we have all received, and grace upon grace. So be it!
And He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Amen. 

	This morning’s benediction is Ex 6:7. 'Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. Amen.