The timing and provision of God are amazing. I’ve seen countless times in my life when God came through at just the right time, often when I didn’t even know I needed Him to. For quite a while now Joni and I joke every time a little extra money comes in - because it always seem that as soon as it does there is a need for it - something with the car or house needs to be repaired or last year it was our son’s trip to the ER with the flu. It can be frustrating at times because we think we have this extra money that we can pay something off or do something special with but it ends up being what we need for something we didn’t know about. And while at first it seems frustrating at first, it ends up reminding us that God takes care of us and provided at just the right time.
In the book of Joshua, chapter 5, the people are finally entering the promised land, and God shows off both his timing and his provision. In verse 10 it says that they celebrated the Passover, and then the very next day they ate the produce of the land. The Passover is that remembrance of how God delivered the people from Egypt, and here they are celebrating it again as they enter the promised land. I have trouble getting my kids up and to school on time, God perfectly times a couple million people wandering through the desert for 4 decades and ends up on the doorstep of the promised land on this exact day. That's not a happy coincidence that's God's timing. Even with some of the awful things that the people choose to do, the very fact that they wander around the desert for all that time, God still bring sit all together exactly when He wants to, exactly when He says it is time. In the midst of our current chaos, our very uncertain world - we need to remember that God is still God, and He is still doing things in His time. He knows exactly when we will all be back together. He knows exactly when things get can closer to normal. But just like He used that time in the desert to prepare Joshua and that next generation of Israelites, He can use this time to work in our lives as well. Even in the midst of crisis - God provides exactly what we need.
Speaking of God's provision, for 40 years as the people wandered he gave them manna, provided them with food to eat out in the wilderness. They enter the land and verse 12 there in Joshua 5 tells us that the day after they ate food from the land, the manna stopped. Scripture doesn't tell us anything about it, but I have to wonder how many people woke up for the next several days and went looking for manna? After 40 years of getting up every day and going out to collect what you needed for that day it probably took some adjusting, and there were probably some who were upset, that thought God was letting them down. I'm sure most of them were glad to have something else to eat, but there were probably some that wanted God to give them both the manna and what they could now enjoy in the promised land. It was probably some of the same people who tried to store up manna when God first provided that as well. They wanted to store up as much as they could and feel safe and secure as they entered this new land. But God was asking them to continue to trust Him. In the wilderness He provided them with manna, now He is giving them this new land that would give them all the food they needed. The food changed, but the source of provision was still God. Not only do we need to remember that God's timing is still perfectly intact during all this coronavirus mess, but we need to remember that God is our provider. No he doesn't always give us the abundance we think we need - we don't get the fruit of the land and the manna. He wants us to trust Him that He will continue to give to us, continue to take care of us. Doesn't mean we will get what we want - but we will always have what God knows we need.
Joshua and the people got to see and learn those things first hand - and that made it possible for them to go into battle fully trusting that God would keep His promises. We can learn the same things, we can trust and rely on the timing and provision of God in the midst of any storm. Love you guys - see you soon.
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