When the manna ceased Joshua 5:9-12
Forty years of wandering behind them. A generation has come and gone. They are now inside — just inside — the promised land. Encamped at Gilgal. With the liberative threshold that was the Red Sea crossing, God brought their parents out of Egypt, out of slavery. Now they have crossed the threshold of the Jordan River into the promised land. They are entering into a new season a new time with God and new experiences. Covid-19 is ending, or at least transitioning and they are moving into a season of blessing. But, the manna has stoped.
Never mind that the Jordan is but a creek, as the waters of the Red Sea were stood up by the Lord, so the waters of the Jordan.
The wilderness wandering, which began with an exodus, now comes to a conclusion with a celebration. But the Manna has stoped.
Yet, we have here in this ancient story from Joshua an interesting moment in the life of ancient Israel. The people of God have been on a long journey through the wilderness and finally arrive at their destination. It is a celebratory story. But we also need to know how to walk in this new season our we too will parish. Especially since our manna has stoped. Some of you read my article a few months ago in the South Carolina Advocste press about the need for more stimulus funds. We all knew the time would come so what do you do when the manna stops.
A wild animal that is domesticated gets use to food given that he loses his instinct to hunt. If the handout isn’t present he will starve. Strange but really we are not that different as we get so use to money coming in that we take it for granted. When it stops, we think God is against us, but is He really?
“The manna stopped the day after they ate the food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan.” — Joshua 5:12
God promised provision to the Israelites when departing Egypt providing food in the form of manna day after day for 40 years. They were trained not to think but to gather and only gather enough for one day– that day– and no more. More than likely, over time, they went from gratefulness and anticipation to entitlement and complaining. Funny how you can get so accustomed to the blessing that you complain about the very thing that you prayed for! Then 48 hours after passover, when they were on the edge of Canaan, they ate grain, bread and fruit from this new land. And their world was rocked!
It was then that God pushed them out of their nest into a new season of hunting for themselves. Their supply used to come from their circumstance but now they were entering a new season of cultivation. The Israelites wanted to return to Egypt under slavery many times when they were journeying toward Canaan but God said, and maybe saying to you today, that you’re entering a new season which requires a new strategy for supply.
God knows how to feed you in every season you’re in;
Ravens dropping food for Elijah
Oil in jars for a woman in debt
Naaman receiving a connection from a teenage servant 1. Find the glory in the current or previous season.girl
The boy gave up his meager lunch to feed 5,000
God knows how to feed you in every season you’re in. It’s time to hunt not whine. I want to give you 5 ways to move into your new season today.
God hasn’t abandoned you it’s just your manna has changed forms.
1. Find the glory in the current or previous season.
One Thing you need to understand, is that the Kingdom of God is an ever increasing, always forward focused Kingdom. If you partake of its fruit, you will produce its essence. If you sow into its processes, you can expect to reap its rewards. As children of the King, we learn that our Father’s desire is not for us to remain the same. God wants to lead us into maturity. Gods heart longs to take us deeper and deeper into our knowledge and understanding of Gods love.
If we believe in this process of living glory to glory, then as we grow in God we glow in Gods glory. Thus we can expect that God’s presence in our lives will bring a new level of glory in our new season.
2. Honor the people that played a part in your growth. Establish gratefulness before you exit.
It’s often our human instinct, when leaving one season and heading into the next, to look for all the negative experiences we had. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine God would pull us out of a good thing and take us somewhere else unless there were bad things God was saving us from. Sadly, many people attempt to enter their new season with bitterness in their hearts. They will look for a way to blame a person or a group for their ungrateful departure simply because they think blame is necessary. I this New season be grateful you survived Covid-19, the shut down did not shut you down.
3. You don’t have to defend your reputation from mistakes you made. Move on!
One of the most difficult things about exiting a season is fighting off the urge to make yourself look better as you go. A common misstep in this process is believing that there is something you can do or say that will paint the picture of the story differently. Sure repent of something you’ve done and ask for forgiveness from someone you’ve hurt. But, if that has already been done, now it’s time to accept your situation, find the lesson worth learning and go.
There are also times that false accusations or untrue narratives exist in the circles you’ve occupied. This is when the example of Jesus comes into play. It’s instinctual to want to be liked, honored, and respected as you leave a season of life. But, the bottom line is, not everyone will like you. Not everyone appreciates you. And just like Jesus, the “success” of your mission is not determined by other people’s opinions.
4. Cut ties with people, places and things that are not supposed to go into the new season with you.
When it comes to exiting one season and entering another, it’s often hard to imagine God NOT wanting us to maintain the relationships we’ve invested time and effort into. After all, people are very important to God. And relationship is the very backbone to our Kingdom existence. But, it’s our human relationships that often become more dear to our heart than our desire to obey God. Many of our relationships have been worked for. We’ve fought for them. In a way, we feel that we’ve earned them. And sometimes we believe that in order to experience fulfillment and joy and love, we NEED them.
Sometimes we use our relationships, whether it’s friends or family, as crutches. When people or groups or fraternity or organizations become a necessity — when they become our source of comfort and pride — we tend to stop relying on God. Maybe God is Calling Us to check ourselves!
5. Step into the new season with great expectation.
Look, if you claim to be a follower of Jesus and believe in His authority as King, then you should understand that He doesn’t send us out to fall short. He doesn’t commission us to “GO!” without first giving us everything we need to finish strong.
1. He is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).
2. It’s His victory that we look to for endurance and
3. it’s His joy that we embrace as our strength.
It IS possible to step through your next door with fear and doubt and low expectations. But you will only experience the fullness of the new season God intends for you to have if you take your steps with faith and great expectation.
Let me end here. The same joy that is produced when you follow Holy Spirit through the entrance to the next season can be stolen if fear and doubt accompanies you.
We believe in a God that has proven His love and willingness to provide over and over again. And as promised in Romans 8, everything will work for your good if you simply love Him and are called by Him.
Well, you are called. All of us! He’s called you to move to the next season.
He’s called you to trust in His goodness.
And if you believe you are following His will, you can expect that He is taking notice of your faithfulness.
And that pleases Him. You can expect good things...because The promise land is your promise. Yes the manna has stoped but in this season when have harvest, we have fruit, we have joy.
