The Australian Church Record, number 1883, September 2007, has been released.
A s you read through the book of Joshua and we come to Chapter 5 we see Israel coming to terms with life in the new Promised land. They have circumcised the males, they have celebrated the Passover and then you come to this fascinating statement:-‘they ate some of the produce of the land. The manna stopped the day after they ate the food of the land” (Josh. 5:11–12). It is hard to remember, at this stage what the manna was.
When Israel was wandering in the Desert if Sin there was no food and the people of Israel cried out to God and He sent the manna. You can read about it in Exodus 26. Every day it came except on the Sabbath. Twice as much had to be collected the day before the Sabbath. This had been going on and on for 40 years. It was God’s wonderful provision for them and it taught them that they were totally dependant upon God’s goodness and kindness.
However now God was going to provide for them in a different way. Some might say a ‘natural’ way. There was no need for God to specially provide food when there was food available in the land. It didn’t mean that they were no longer dependant upon God for sustenance. I simply meant that God was providing it in a different way. If we only recognise God’s providential care in the spectacular we cut ourselves off from recognising the goodness of God to us in ‘life and health and daily food’.
In the Prayer if Thanksgiving we thank God for our ‘creation, preservation and all the blessing of this life’. The greatest blessing is the wonderful death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus on our behalf. He opens the way for us to be right with God and enjoy eternal life. God is a gracious and magnanimous God.