Something Better Is Coming
We all have to deal with things that come to an end. We lose our main client, a friend we’ve always counted on moves away, a loved one goes to be with the Lord. We’ve seen God’s goodness in the past, we’ve known we had His blessing, but it seems as though that blessing is taken away. Yet God never removes something unless He has something better coming. If He didn’t stop certain things, we would never get out of our comfort zone. When you don’t understand why the friend walks away or why the company pushes us out, God is not doing that to make your life more difficult. He’s getting you in position for increase. He stops what is working to force you to stretch so you can see greater provision, greater fulfillment, and greater favor.
This is what happened when God supernaturally brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. Two million people headed into the desert toward the Promised Land, but they had no food. There was no way to survive out there. But every morning God gave them something called manna, which was like bread that formed on the ground. For forty years in the desert the one thing they could always count on was the manna. They had enemies to fight, heat and thirst to overcome, snakes and scorpions to deal with, but every morning, like clockwork, there was the manna. They knew that was the hand of God taking care of them. But they didn’t realize the manna was only a temporary provision. They were satisfied with something to eat every day, but God wasn’t satisfied. He was taking them into a land flowing with milk and honey, a land filled with all kinds of fruits, vegetables, and resources.
When they ate their first produce from the Promised Land, something interesting happened. “The manna ceased…and the children of Israel no longer had manna” (Joshua 5:12). After forty years, the manna stopped. I can hear them asking in a panic, “God, what’s happening? You’ve provided for us. Why are You leaving us now?” They would have depended on the manna forever, so God stopped the manna. He said to them, “From now on, you don’t need the manna to sustain you. There’s provision all around you. I’m bringing you into abundance.” It wasn’t a coincidence that the manna stopped when they were about to enter the Promised Land. When something ceases in your life, it’s not the time to get discouraged. It’s time to get ready, to stir up your faith because increase is coming, greater provision is on the way, and God is about to take you where you can’t go on your own.
This is what happened when God supernaturally brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. Two million people headed into the desert toward the Promised Land, but they had no food. There was no way to survive out there. But every morning God gave them something called manna, which was like bread that formed on the ground. For forty years in the desert the one thing they could always count on was the manna. They had enemies to fight, heat and thirst to overcome, snakes and scorpions to deal with, but every morning, like clockwork, there was the manna. They knew that was the hand of God taking care of them. But they didn’t realize the manna was only a temporary provision. They were satisfied with something to eat every day, but God wasn’t satisfied. He was taking them into a land flowing with milk and honey, a land filled with all kinds of fruits, vegetables, and resources.
When they ate their first produce from the Promised Land, something interesting happened. “The manna ceased…and the children of Israel no longer had manna” (Joshua 5:12). After forty years, the manna stopped. I can hear them asking in a panic, “God, what’s happening? You’ve provided for us. Why are You leaving us now?” They would have depended on the manna forever, so God stopped the manna. He said to them, “From now on, you don’t need the manna to sustain you. There’s provision all around you. I’m bringing you into abundance.” It wasn’t a coincidence that the manna stopped when they were about to enter the Promised Land. When something ceases in your life, it’s not the time to get discouraged. It’s time to get ready, to stir up your faith because increase is coming, greater provision is on the way, and God is about to take you where you can’t go on your own.