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Have you recently lost a job or seen a significant income stream dry up? Are you feeling discouraged or confused about what’s happening? Are you struggling to make sense of an unexpected change in your life? There’s a lesson to be learned from the Israelites’ experience soon after they crossed into the Promised Land.

Few Israelites were old enough to remember the days before they ate manna. For them, it had become a basic staple of their diet—like fresh ground peanut butter is for me today. The generation that perished in the wilderness had been the ones grumbling, “If only the LORD had killed us back in Egypt… There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.”(1) God responded to their complaints and miraculously provided them with manna.

One morning, nearly forty years earlier, someone noticed a thin, white layer of crust where the dew had evaporated.(2) They had never seen anything like it before. One neighbor pointed it out to another, and soon curiosity led them to investigate. Someone broke off a piece and picked it up. It didn’t feel like anything they had ever touched before. They smelled it—it didn’t resemble anything familiar. Then someone tasted it, and it was unlike anything they’d ever eaten. In unison, they asked Moses, “What is it?” Moses replied, “It is the food that God has promised you.” Every day thereafter (except on the Sabbath), God kept His promise and provided them with manna.

For almost forty years, it was a staple of their diet—like rice is in many parts of the world today. i imagine Hebrew mothers became quite creative in developing new recipes for using manna. It was likely gluten-free, which would make it quite popular today! It was always available fresh, every day of the year, so storage wasn’t an issue. The only time they needed to store it was for the Sabbath, and if they tried to keep it any other time, it would rot. God intended for the Israelites not to hoard it, and i imagine He made sure that there was nothing worse than rotten manna.

Now, on their fifth full day in the Promised Land on the west side of the Jordan, they had just celebrated their Passover meal the night before. That morning, the first person walked out from camp to gather their daily portion of manna—except it wasn’t there! Imagine the reaction. Gathering manna in the morning had become as routine for the Israelites as that first cup of coffee is for many of us. But now, they looked around, and it was nowhere to be found. It had once been everywhere; now it was gone. Imagine the confusion on their faces. Scripture doesn’t tell us that God announced the night before that He would stop providing manna. It simply says it no longer appeared. God allowed them to discover they no longer needed it. The King James Version of Joshua 5:12 reads, “And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land….”

i imagine a sense of panic began to set in, especially among those who struggled with change. Someone likely went to Joshua and the leaders to ask what had happened. i can imagine someone saying, “Remember how Moses had us place a sample of manna in the Ark? God instructed Aaron through Moses, ‘Get a jar and fill it with two quarts of manna. Then put it in a sacred place before the LORD to preserve it for all future generations.’”(3) Aaron did as the LORD commanded, eventually placing it in the Ark of God, in front of the stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant. God had told them that once they entered the Promised Land, they would no longer need manna, and He wanted them to have a reminder of His faithfulness.

From that day forward, they ate from the crops of the land. Initially, they consumed the grain left by the Canaanite farmers until it was exhausted, and then they ate from the harvest of their own planting.

There are four principles of God’s provision evident in the manna:

1.       God provides just what is needed for as long as it is needed—no longer.

2.    God provides through extraordinary means when ordinary means are unavailable. The manna, an extraordinary provision, and the grain, an ordinary one, were both from God; the difference was only in how He chose to meet the need.

3.    God provides based on need, not desire. The manna was given because it was needed, not because the people desired it.

4.    Our needs and, therefore, God’s provision may be very different throughout our wilderness journeys than they are in our land of promise. In His wisdom, God knows exactly what is required. This is what Jesus taught when He said, “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask Him! Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may Your name be kept holy. May Your Kingdom come soon. May Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need…”(4)

So, what is the “manna” (the provision that you need God to provide through extraordinary means) that you require today? And what is the “grain” (the provision He enables you to have through your work and effort) that you need today? Paul wrote, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”(5) God provides both manna and grain.

He will faithfully provide manna when needed, but not when grain is sufficient. Trust His provision—in both your wilderness and your land of promise. Don’t be surprised if His provision changes or looks different; trust Him to provide, regardless of how He chooses to do so. As Moses reminded the people just before he left them, “For forty years [GOD] led you through the wilderness, yet your clothes and sandals did not wear out… He gave you food so you would know that He is the LORD your God.”(6)

He is the LORD our God! Trust Him to supply the manna when needed—or the grain when manna is no longer necessary. Either way, He will be faithful!

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You can read about God’s response to the Israelites in the fifth chapter of the Book of Joshua.

 

Portions of this post are excerpted from chapter 13 of my book, Possessing The Promise. For more information about the book, click here.

 

(1)  Exodus 16:3 (NLT)

(2)  Joshua 5:12 (NLT)

No manna appeared on the day they first ate from the crops of the land, and it was never seen again. So from that time on the Israelites ate from the crops of Canaan.

 

(3) Exodus 16:33-34 (NLT)

(4) Matthew 6:7-11 (NLT)

(5) Philippians 4:19 (NLT)

(6) Deuteronomy 29:5-6 (NLT)

 

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