No More Manna
We've been studying Joshua in Sunday School. In the quiet after all the big kids headed to school, I read these words from chapter 5: "Since there was no more manna for the Israelites, they ate from the crops of the land of Canaan that year."
They knew the taste of manna by heart.
For forty years they had regularly partaken of the "What is it?!" The Israelites who were now gathered on the other side of the Jordan had literally cut their teeth on it. It's all they had known.
Familiar. Faithful. Always reliable. Ever the same. Never did it change and never did their tongues taste a flavor unpredictable to their palates.
Until it stopped falling from the sky.
God had led them into a new land, a land long promised to their people. In the Milk and Honey land of Canaan, there was no need for the "What is it?!" to coat their tongues. Foreign and unexpected, the people of God finally got the opportunity to feast on the sabor that this new season afforded them. Their ancestors were too stubbornly scared to trust God and take this land, and by the grace of God, His hand still extended steadily to feed them.
I wonder what it felt like for them to have the juice of Canaan fruit dripping down their chins. Were their bellies almost sick because they couldn't stop eating from this new and wonderful Promise? Did they feel triumphant because they did what their fathers feared to do? Were they afraid of this new and wild territory that held both blessings and question marks?
While both triumph and failure as well as many battles were ahead for the chosen people of God, witnessing Him provide in this new way must have made for a deeply anointed moment.
As some of you, dear readers, walk fully ahead into seasons of change and transition (desired or hated), know that the same God who offered a new and refreshing bite of the Promise to His people would like to offer that to you in the form of a precious taste of Hope. Hope for new beginnings in uncharted territory.
Don't be overtaken with fear when He asks you to pick the fruit off the vine for a change. Maybe provision has simply landed on your doorstep in the past, but this is a new season and the God of the universe has special sustenance planned for those he asks to walk in great faith.
Timeless truth: Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Joshua 1:9
