Devotional 3-11-13

Joshua 5:9-12
The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” And so that place is called Gilgal to this day. While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.

“Taste the Manna”

I imagine Joshua, in his old age, with his grandson on his lap, telling the old stories. “Grandpa, tell me about manna again.” Joshua looks down at his young grandson and says, “Moses let God’s people out of Egypt and through the Red Sea and to freedom. But freedom came with a price. We were in the wilderness and wilderness is desert. It was hot and you can’t grow crops there and animals don’t live there. Some of the people got mad at their decision to leave Egypt. Some blamed Moses for leading them out. Others blamed God. It came down to the fact that we were all hungry and thirsty and tired. So as we stood there shaking our fist at God, God did not focus on our anger, but instead, God focused on our pain. God did not abandon us. God provided for us. We drank water from a rock. We ate quail. But it was the manna that I miss the most. You see, every morning, when we rose from our beds, there was manna on the ground. I’m not sure what it was exactly, some type of edible flakes. We would gather it in the morning, but we only gathered enough. Oh, there were some who tried to gather it in bunches to horde in case there was none for the next day, but it went bad. Manna couldn’t be kept for long. And what we didn’t gather, did not last either.”

“Did it fill you up, Grandpa?” Joshua smiled and told him, “No, I don’t think of it like being full. It was more about stopping our hunger than filling our bellies. But the day came when the manna stopped.”

“Why, Grandpa? Why isn’t there manna anymore?” Joshua rubbed his chin and said, “When we got to the Promised Land, we could farm and raise livestock. There was food there. We didn’t need the manna the way we needed it in the desert. And so it stopped. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I was never happier than the day we reached the Promised Land. No more desert, no more wandering, and no more uncertainty about where our next meal would come from. But in a way, I think we were better off in the wilderness. When we were wandering in the wilderness, we HAD to depend on God to lead us and to feed us. Nowadays, we depend entirely too much on ourselves. It seems like we were closer to God when life was harder. I don’t know why that is really, but I guess it is easier to feel God’s presence in times of trouble. Maybe it is because God draws nearer to us. But I think it is because we are more open to God in those moments.”

“Does that mean that we are more closed to God in good times, Grandpa?” Joshua frowned and said, “You sure are full of questions. But then again, knowing how to ask the right questions is better than feeling like we have all the answers. I guess the answer to your question is that it depends. We don’t have to be closed to God just because we are in good times. It just seems like more people are. We just get so busy living our lives that we get out of touch with the divine. It is like the way we get when people are out of our lives for a time. We don’t forget about them, but we don’t necessarily think about them either. I bet if we stopped and took time to look around and to listen for God, we just might find that the manna never truly stopped.”

“What do you mean, Grandpa?” Grinning, Joshua said, “I mean, God still is at work in our lives trying to lead us and feed us, we just don’t always see it or we convince ourselves that it is our own doing. As long as people exist, God will find ways to meet their needs. Manna is all around us, if only we would open our hearts to see it.”

Prayer

God of Abraham and Sarah,
     God of Moses and Joshua,
           God of Esther and Ruth:
When your people were in the desert and were hungry,
      you sent manna.
But there came a day when the manna stopped,
      when your people were able to eat of the fruit of the land.
And so we stopped looking for you to provide,
      and we worked hard to make our own way,
           and we have food on our table.
But God, we are still hungry.
      We fill ourselves with empty calories.
           We eat more than we should.
All the while, there are people in want of their daily bread,
      hungry people, yearning for a meal.
Give us eyes to see you,
      ears to hear you,
           hearts to feel you.
Allow us to see the manna that you provide for us daily:
      in the faces of children,
           in the reconciliation of feuds,
                in the clasped hand of the dying.
And help us to be the manna:
      offering food to growling bellies,
           offering forgiveness to hurting souls,
                offering love to the unloved.
In the name of one who came to be manna for us,
      like bread broken,
           like yeast, rising . . .
In the name of Jesus the Christ. Amen.


Rev. David A. Stackpole, Esq