Easter Devotional - Day 14
“The next day, God stopped sending the Israelites manna to eat each morning, and they started eating food grown in the land of Canaan. They ate roasted grain and thin bread made of the barley they gathered from nearby fields.” Joshua 5:11-12
God’s provision does not often come in the manner we expect. The Hebrews were accustomed to manna coming as the morning dew, but now it came no more. Previously, they had complained that manna was the only thing to eat. Doubtless, many complained now that the manna was gone. It is the problem of human nature. We desperately desire security in the things we know. We are often loath to try new ideas, experiences, food, and traditions, because we find safety in the forms of life that have sustained us across the years—especially those which call to mind the nostalgic memories of childhood.
Manna, however, was not the focus of God’s plan. Manna was a provisional step to care for them until they entered the Promised Land. Now as the people crossed over the Jordan, God moved them on to another step of provision. Now it was time to provide through the richness of the land promised to Abraham. It was still Yahweh’s provision—planned for within the very fabric of creation.
Collecting manna had been work. Bending over to harvest the tiny bits of food to be pound, grind, or cook required effort. So God’s provision was not without responsibility on the part of a people under God’s care. The new means of provision would also require effort on behalf of the people. They would harvest grain. They would process the produce; they would sow; they would weed; and they would reap all kinds of produce in the land. None of this, however, would be theirs without the provision of Yahweh who had now led them into the land of promise.
We can be sure there were many complaining that God had stopped providing for their needs. Now they were on their own. They had been cut off with no hope of support or plan for provision. Yet provision was already all around them. They had but to step out of their routines to see the action of Yahweh going before them to prepare for their entrance into the Promised Land.
At issues was not really the question of provision. At issue was the question of trust. Would they trust Yahweh to meet their needs in this new context of life? Would they look around to seek the new possibilities the fulfillment of the promise offered? There were field with ripening grain. There were trees bearing olives and figs. There were vineyard and places to plant them. There was a land made fertile in the very structure of God’s creation—a land to sustain life and allow the people to recognize the hand of their Creator in fashioning a world with their needs in mind.
In times of economic crisis, we also may be tempted to look at how life used to be. We are wont to hang onto the means and patterns of the past. Yet even when those structures are abolished, God is not at wit’s end as to providing for our needs. Where there was once manna, perhaps there are fields of barley. Both the one and the other have their origin in the same Creator who fashioned a world with our needs in mind. Are we ready to follow God into the new realm of provision?
Set down what God would have you release in order to receive provision for the days ahead.
“Lord, open my eyes to see the action of your providing, instead of the routines on which I tend to focus my attention.”
—©Copyright 2009 Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/
God’s provision does not often come in the manner we expect. The Hebrews were accustomed to manna coming as the morning dew, but now it came no more. Previously, they had complained that manna was the only thing to eat. Doubtless, many complained now that the manna was gone. It is the problem of human nature. We desperately desire security in the things we know. We are often loath to try new ideas, experiences, food, and traditions, because we find safety in the forms of life that have sustained us across the years—especially those which call to mind the nostalgic memories of childhood.
Manna, however, was not the focus of God’s plan. Manna was a provisional step to care for them until they entered the Promised Land. Now as the people crossed over the Jordan, God moved them on to another step of provision. Now it was time to provide through the richness of the land promised to Abraham. It was still Yahweh’s provision—planned for within the very fabric of creation.
Collecting manna had been work. Bending over to harvest the tiny bits of food to be pound, grind, or cook required effort. So God’s provision was not without responsibility on the part of a people under God’s care. The new means of provision would also require effort on behalf of the people. They would harvest grain. They would process the produce; they would sow; they would weed; and they would reap all kinds of produce in the land. None of this, however, would be theirs without the provision of Yahweh who had now led them into the land of promise.
We can be sure there were many complaining that God had stopped providing for their needs. Now they were on their own. They had been cut off with no hope of support or plan for provision. Yet provision was already all around them. They had but to step out of their routines to see the action of Yahweh going before them to prepare for their entrance into the Promised Land.
At issues was not really the question of provision. At issue was the question of trust. Would they trust Yahweh to meet their needs in this new context of life? Would they look around to seek the new possibilities the fulfillment of the promise offered? There were field with ripening grain. There were trees bearing olives and figs. There were vineyard and places to plant them. There was a land made fertile in the very structure of God’s creation—a land to sustain life and allow the people to recognize the hand of their Creator in fashioning a world with their needs in mind.
In times of economic crisis, we also may be tempted to look at how life used to be. We are wont to hang onto the means and patterns of the past. Yet even when those structures are abolished, God is not at wit’s end as to providing for our needs. Where there was once manna, perhaps there are fields of barley. Both the one and the other have their origin in the same Creator who fashioned a world with our needs in mind. Are we ready to follow God into the new realm of provision?
Set down what God would have you release in order to receive provision for the days ahead.
“Lord, open my eyes to see the action of your providing, instead of the routines on which I tend to focus my attention.”
—©Copyright 2009 Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/
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