Fresh Manna for a New Day

Does anyone else find it unbelievable that the children of Israel could see and experience all the incredible things on their sojourn out of Egypt, yet constantly question, complain, and disobey God? One prime example is when He miraculously provided them manna in the wilderness. They were told that fresh manna
must be gathered every morning (except on the sabbath). Still, people tried to take the easy way out and get more than necessary so they wouldn't have to go through the trouble of collecting more the next day. Well, they found out the hard way that if you're going to disobey God, you might as well, as one person put it, "go eat some worms." [See Exodus 16:15-20]

Really, though, that's the way many Christians treat their walk with God. Jesus said He is the bread of heaven in John 6:33. He also showed us that we are supposed to gather our "daily bread" in His model of prayer [Matthew 6:11]. We understand through scripture that bread is the symbol of the Word of God, so we see that we should daily seek the face of Jesus Christ in order to receive fresh Word (bread) from Him. What He provided yesterday may not work for us today.

Just look at the various kingdoms that Israel conquered on their journey west of Jordan, thirty-three kings to be exact, two on the East of Jordan and thirty-one on the west. If someone mentions Jericho, most people who've been to Sunday school can tell you exactly how that city was conquered. They shouted the walls of Jericho down!!! [Joshua 6:20]. But how were the other thirty-two victories won? Well, from studying scripture we see they were not all won by shouting and praising the walls down, rather, God gave the victory however He chose to do so.

What if Israel tried defeating Ai (the next city after Jericho) the same way, through praise and shouting? I'll tell you, they would have been defeated. Why? Didn't that work just one city ago? The answer is, yes, it worked, but only because that's how God commanded them to gain the victory. When it came to the next battle, God gave them different instructions. If Joshua wasn't plugged in to God, he may have missed God's fresh word (daily bread) and tried to apply an old word to a new situation. Sometimes, that can get us into a lot of trouble. Other times, we simply delay our answer and frustrate ourselves while Jesus sits back and says, "I've got a fresh word for this new situation, but I guess I'll wait until you're ready to come get it." We simply have too many Christians who are too lazy to hear from God, and they'd rather apply a cookie-cutter solution to every situation, a one-size-fits-all method of obtaining victory. But that doesn't work. Victory is only obtained through obedience to God. The only reason shouting and praise worked at Jericho is because God decided that's how He wanted the victory to be obtained.

It's all about relationship with Jesus. When we seek Him daily, that's right, every single day, we can receive those fresh words of life for the new day. We don't have to scratch our heads and wonder why something worked before but not in this situation. Rather, we can get our "marching orders" fresh every day and walk from victory to victory, just as Israel did when they crossed the Jordan. Jesus, help us to get a fresh word from you!!!