When the Manna Stops

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.

Joshua 5:11-12

God provides for His people. And you can be sure that when one means of God's provision stops another one has already taken its place. We see this in the passage above and again and again I have experienced it in my own family as well. 

For forty years God's people trekked through the desert. Millions of people living out of tents in a harsh and unforgiving environment. Providing food and water for millions of people in any geographic location would be a challenge, but to do so in a desert for forty years is literally impossible. But God made a way where there was no way. God sent manna each morning with the dew (except for the Sabbaths), and His people gathered and ate. They didn't have to sow or reap. They just had to trust God and obey. But notice when the manna stopped. The very first day the Israelites ate of the food of the Promised Land (food that they also had not sown or reaped), was also the last day God sent manna.

King David wrote, "I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread" (Psalm 37:25). God provides for His people. His provision is not always exorbitant. Israel often had just enough in the desert. But at other times He graces us with more than we can take. The Promised Land was called a land flowing with milk and honey. There His people had more than just bread and water; they had a great variety of wonderful foods.

I have witnessed God's provision for my own family and extended family over the last several years. I have seen situation after situation that looked financially hopeless from an earthly perspective. But where there was no way God made a way. So take comfort in this! Be responsible with your money. Do all that you can do. Make sure that you work hard and are right with God, then trust Him and see what He will do.