It strikes me how the manna stopped the day after they had their first food in the Promised Land. For decades they awakened every morning to step out of a tent and find their food on the ground waiting for them. Now a new day had dawned and they could eat the variety of food offered by this new land. Of course, that probably didn't go over well with the local people that grew it!
And so Israel entered into an odd "halfway" lifestyle. Yes they were in the Promised Land and the desert nomad life was behind them. They could build homes and enjoy its food. God had delivered them and made good on his promise. Yet they still had work to do. They had to conquer entire nations, build or rebuild homes to live in and then learn to become farmers. They were in the Promised Land but not yet free from responsibility.
It seems like a great prototype for God's church today. God has made good on his promise of redemption by already sending Jesus. He has pulled his people together into community, given his Spirit to us and guarantees continued life with him. Yet we are not free from responsibilities like conquering our attitudes and/or behaviors, dealing with pain and putting in our part to build relationships.
Probably leaving the desert behind to move into a rich hill country was a stark change that affected every facet of their life. Still I wonder if after a few months or years, did they forget that they were in the Promised Land like we forget that we are different from most around us? Did they speak out against the Land the way many of us speak out against the Lord? Did they long to go back to the desert for direct food from God the way some of us long to have lived in the days of Jesus so that we would not have to work to understand the will of God?
It is easy for us to look down on the Israelites for how they grew stale in their faith once they lived in the "halfway world of the Promised Land"; I wonder what they would say about us?
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