“Neither have I gone back from the commandment of His lips: I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12).
Very little of the word of God was available to Job, but what little he had was of more importance to him than food. On the other hand, the completed Scriptures are available today, yet most Christians barely spend five minutes a day in the word.
It is noteworthy how many passages compare the Scriptures to our physical food. David said they were “sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:10). Jeremiah said: “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts” (Jeremiah 15:16).
The writer of Hebrews, in a very important passage, compared the Word both to milk for infants and meat for adults. “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Hebrews 5:12–14).
Moses said long ago: “Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live” (Deuteronomy 8:3), and this truth was considered so vital that Christ Himself quoted it when contending with Satan (Matthew 4:4). Now, if great men like Job and Moses and Jeremiah and the Lord Jesus all believed the Bible to be our necessary food, then we surely need it even more. HMM
