No More Manna
Joshua 3-6
History
The Israelites have now spent the last forty years wandering and wondering because they were afraid. They did not believe that they could live in a world that had giants, danger - so they chose to stay in the desert.
For forty years they ate the “heavenly food” called “manna.” They recognized that this was a provision of the Lord. It was regarded as a miracle of God. It never stopped coming. Talk about God’s provision.
The Hebrew word Manna means what? - What is it? We learn that it came every morning, except the Sabbath (for it would wormy), in the form of a small round seed resembling the hoar frost; that it must be gathered early, before the sun became so hot as to melt it.
We also know that it would not keep over night. It tasted like fresh oil, and like wafers made with honey, equally agreeable to all palates; that the whole nation subsisted upon it for forty years.
Numbers 11:8 says that the people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a handmill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into cakes. And it tasted like something made with olive oil.
There is a positive side of Manna:
It was all grace
Ask yourself if you were God, would you give these complainers the food they did not deserve.
It taught a valuable Lesson about God’s provision for His people. God taught them everyday that he provides for them.
So in this aspect we learn that we must go to Him every day for a heavenly blessing and we should stop complaining.
There is also a negative side to Manna:
It was not the fruit of the land that God had promised to them. There was a land with milk and honey - that was God’s plan and desires for them, it was their decision not to partake of it.
There are so many of us today that are choosing to eat manna when God wants something better, more filling, and more wonderful, but because we are afraid to do something different in our lives, we stay in one place eating manna. When God has a plan for your life, don’t settle for manna. There may be giants in the land but the greatest accomplishments come through hard work and much effort.
The Jordan river was the visible obstacle, but it was not what was keeping them out of the promise land, it was there fear and lack of trust in God.
There are other obstacles in our live that we do not want to face because we fear the other side.
I have heard it said that people would rather stay in the certainty of misery than move to the misery of uncertainty.
We like the familiar, it is hard to change.
The Promise Land
Josh 5:11-12 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 of the produce of Canaan.
A. The Promise Land brought about many changes in their lives.
They were to be in the middle of ungodliness and called to be separated unto him. They had to eat the same food. Their clothing had to change to adapt to the different climate.
They had to go work for their food. They had to plant, nurture, and reap from the land.
They had to capture new land and then they had to protect it.
There are some things you do differently because you live in today’s society.
They had to respond to new enemies and learn how to fight differently.
Things were different from this point on. There are of course some blessings to that and a whole new set of responsibilities.
They were called to be a light in the darkness. God wanted to use the Israelites to win the world and the only way He was going to do this is to put them in the middle of it and demonstrate His power through them
God did not call us into this world today to bury our heads in the sand, but to stand up and demonstrate to the world that you can live holy and righteous lives today. You can be people of integrity, you can move in the power and might of God, you can be victorious.
B. There are three basic responses to change:
1. The negative response.
This frustrates the work of God.
This is the attitude that the people had forty years earlier. It kept them out of the promise land and also kept everyone else out.
2. The indifferent response.
This closes the door on your spiritual growth as you refuse to go through the process of change in your life.
You may be part of going through but you will not have that sense that you were in this with the family.
3. Positive response.
This is when we are ready to do whatever God has called you to do with all of your heart.
It is dreaming God’s dream for your life and family.
Stella Stuart said, “Dream Everyday.” “Behind me is infinite power. Before me is endless possibility. Around me is boundless opportunity. Why should I fear?”
A positive response says, “Dream Big.”
A positive response says, “We will give up to go up.”
A positive response says, “There are opportunities, I will take them.”
Opportunities are all around us.
Lesson from a Farmer
A young man from the city graduated from college with a degree in journalism and got a job at a small-town newspaper. One of his first assignments was to interview an old farmer who lived twenty miles outside of town. As he sat with the grizzled man on his front porch, the young journalist looked at his notepad and started asking his questions. One of the first he asked was, “Sir, what time do you go to work in the morning?”
The old farmer chuckled and replied, “Son, don’t go to work. I’m surrounded by it.”
We can learn a lesson from the old farmer. Opportunities are a lot like his work. They are everywhere. But the problem is that we often don’t have the eyes to see them.
A positive response says, “I believe in God and will work with people.”
C. I have been around church all my life and I know that change is difficult. But if we are going to respond to the needs of our community, we will need to change.
When I look out in the parking lot, I see that very few people are still driving the same car you had as a teenager.
I am sure if I came in your home I would see a microwave, a VCR, and a remote control. These have dramatically changed life in America, but we all are thankful for them.
The change in music styles remains a hot button in church, but if we do not change, we become irrelevant to our people.
I would rather a person get upset at me and change churches because I related to my world than I would have an unsaved person find me irrelevant.
Change – not easy
Hard Work – indeed
Rewarding – you bet
Give me some of that fruit – I’m tired of eating manna!
