Don’t Forget the Manna

A few weeks ago, everyone was posting decade transformation photos that showed what they looked like as this decade began vs. how they now look as this decade draws to a close. I started to post mine then but began to reflect on the past ten years. What a decade it’s been! In 2009, we were just starting to feel like Birmingham was home. I had a different job with a different company that rarely required travel. The kids were 11 and 6 and into Hannah Montana and Pokémon. You would never find me in a gym and if you asked me to run 3 miles, I would have laughed at you. I occasionally read my Bible. I drove an SUV and longed for a minivan.  

And of course, Mike was alive, and the thought of cancer had never entered our minds.  

I wondered what advice I would give my 2009, 39-year-old self. So many things I could say. I really had no idea where I would even begin until this week. I was studying the book of Joshua and the story of the Lord finally allowing Israel to enter the land He had promised after 40 years in the wilderness. (Think about what their 40-year transformation photos would have been like!)   

You know the story. Moses has died and Joshua is the new leader of Israel. God instructs him to send a man from each of the tribes along with the Ark of the Covenant ahead of all of Israel into the swollen, flooded Jordan river. And just as God had parted the sea as they were escaping Egypt, He parted the Jordan and they crossed on dry land. This was incredible, miraculous, an obvious intervention by the hand of the Lord. They finally made it! God fulfilled His promise to them and instructed them to build a memorial of 12 stones from the Jordan so that they would forever remember their divine deliverance. They settle in at the border of Jericho and prepare to celebrate their first Passover in Canaan. And then we get to Joshua 5:10-12: 

“While the people of Israel were encamped at Gilgal, they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening on the plains of Jericho. And the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land. And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel…” 

I had forgotten all about the manna–the original super food! Here we are in Joshua 5 and God had been daily sending manna from heaven to sustain the Israelites since all the way back in Exodus 16!

You see, sometimes God delivers us by performing a miracle so amazing, so obvious, so attention-grabbing that we cross a raging river completely untouched and supernaturally protected. But most days, He provides our manna–our daily bread, exactly what we need to get through that day. And it is no less miraculous.  

So, of all the things I could tell my 2009 self, I think I would tell her this: God will be there for you every day. Just as He did for Israel, He will quietly, faithfully, consistently, give you all you need for each moment. Trust Him. Look for Him in all the small things, the routine things, the things you likely take for granted. Don’t forget the manna.