Joshua Chapter 5: Verses 11-12 (NIV-UK)
The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan.
Today the people of Israel and Jews across the world are starting their Passover celebrations commemorating the exodus from Egypt. But it had taken forty years to reach the land of promise because of the stubbornness and disobedience shown by the people. The parents and grandparents of those who now ate the unleavened bread, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, had died in the desert. Yet in all that time God had provided nourishment for them all. Now, as He had promised, they ate the fruit of the land. How good, and perhaps strange, this must have seemed. And from that time on there was no more manna to sustain them. That season, however long, had ended.
Now God would provide for them in a different way. They would have to trust Him and be obedient to His instructions in order to take the land they had now entered and farm it to produce regular harvest. They would have to work for their food. They would have to do other things that they had never done before. But God had given directions through Moses about what they should do and how. But they had to be active, perhaps more than they had been used to. Even after forty years. We too may have been on the road for a long time, but God still expects us to be spiritually active. He may take us into a new season.
Sometimes God provides everything that we need in situations where we can’t meet that need ourselves. When we are young in the faith, He will give us everything we need to begin our journey of faith. We leave behind our old ways, thoughts and habits and set out on the road, just as the Israelites left Egypt. But there are also times where God expects us to be active and work out our faith. He will give us guidance and direction to be able to do what He asks of us. Arriving in the Promised Land was not the end of the story. It was the beginning of a new chapter, and God wanted the people to continue to rely on Him. He wanted to show them things they had never seen or done before. And so it is with us. We may be called to leave familiar ground and start a new chapter in our spiritual journey, even after forty years or more, but we can rest assured that God wants to show us what to do and where to go, and perhaps things that we have never seen before. That’s an exciting thing to consider as we remember the purpose of Passover, and Jesus, the Passover Lamb, who made our relationship and journey with God possible. Chag Pesach sameach! (Happy Passover!)
Dear Lord,
I am grateful for Your provision in all of its forms. Help me to be ready to do whatever You direct in this season of my life. And thank You for the reminder of the true Passover Lamb who made it possible for me to be called a Child of God. Amen.