For Jesus the first temptation in the wilderness was turning stones into bread. Satan was playing on Jesus' desperation for provision after fasting for 40 days. Going without food for 40 minutes puts me at risk. I need my chocolate! Satan still loves desperate times, not that Jesus was desperate. The devil manufactures fear, extraggerates needs and blows day to day situations into monumental delimas. Take the current U. S. economy, for instance.

Here's the point. If Jesus had succombed to turning stones into bread, he would have compromised a basic truth. "Other" bread may have satisfied the immediate hunger for food, but "other" bread would not have brought eternal satisfaction. Jesus lived by every word that proceeded from His Father. That was his bread. Father's words nourished Jesus and provided for Him in ways that stones could not. In these economical times it may be tempting to turn something into provision out of desperation. Satan knows that.

Picture with me a basket of loaves of bread. Some made from stones of our own making and one made by and according to the Word of God. Father's direction leads to Father's provision. Provision of our own making may satisfy for the moment but not for the momentum. Immediate gratification is enticing, especially when there's a crisis at hand.

The word preaches that desperate times call for desperate measures. Jesus wasn't desperate. He wasn't panicing. His words rebuked Satan and sent him on his way. There will always be another attack on our finances. It's not the government's bread or the fanagling bread of our own making that runs the devil out, it's the Bread of Life. Jesus is that Bread! He's the Word made flesh and dwelling among us. His Word is His Bond.

He is our provision. We don't need a mixed bag of truth and consequences. From the Bread of Life, God's Word, comes direction for our provision. Satan's manufactured fear has not power unless we give it power. Turning stones into bread is a temptation in this day, but the Word of God is still the provision for times like these.