In Joshua 5:11-12 it states that:

"On the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land, unleavened bread and parched grain. The manna ceased on that day after they ate some of the produce of the land, so that the sons of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate some of the yield of the land of Canaan that year."

As Israel set out from Egypt to the promise land, part of this transition included passing through the desert, During this transition, God provided food for them in the form of manna. This lasted up to the moment they entered the promise land and ate of the fruit of that land.

During any journey through life, whether as an individual, as a family or as a group of believers, we will hit a point of transition from one way of life to another. During these times of transition, we cannot produce from the old way of life what we will need in the new life. It is at these points of transition in life that God enters and provides for us. However, once we have transitioned from the previous life to the new, that provision needs to end.

This is the message in Joshua 5:11-12. As Israel transitioned from a people in slavery to a self sustaining nation, God provided for them during this transition. But once they entered on the other side of this transition, God ceased to provide and they became responsible for this part of their life.

So many of us, as we go through a transition, find that God steps up and takes care of us. Once we have completed this transition, we wonder why God is no longer with us in the same way He was during our transition.

Actually He is, its just that what He once had to do for us, in the same way a parent does things for a child, He now is able to hand over to us so we can do it for ourselves. This does not mean God is not with us any longer. Rather, what use to come to us as a gift from outside, and appeared to be miraculous, now comes to us through a more natural process. And yet God is no less present in this than He was in the miraculous.

Just as God provided manna until the people of Israel entered and ate of the fruit of the land, so also for us, during times of transition, God will provide for us until the time when we can do so for ourselves. This does not mean God has left us, rather it means we have successfully transitioned into our new life.

In fact our attempt to hold on to how God comes to us during times of transition, will only cut us off from taking full possession of the our new promise land He intends for us.

God's provisions are boundless. But God's provisions have time limits. Failure to acknowledge the time limits creates stagnation in the transition rather than entrance into the promise land.

© 2010 – 2011, VoiceWind. . .Greg Loveless. All rights reserved.