Good Morning Gorgeous,

It’s a brand new day. A fresh new start. A new dawn, and a new beginning. A new sunrise, yet we are met again with the same issues as yesterday. That happens sometimes, but today still stands alone.

There are hidden treasures even in the most challenging of days. There are opportunities to love and share with others. There are moments to get before the Father and let Him breathe new life into you. A new hope, a new resolve, a new way of looking at an old problem, a brand new provision.

In the Old Testament, the Israelites wandered for 40 years in the desert. During that time, they depended on God for everything they needed. He provided fully for every need, and He supplied a most interesting meal: manna.

Manna was the bread of the heavens, and everyday except for the Sabbath, this manna rained down from heaven. Each morning when the Israelites rose, they found a fresh helping of manna spread out on the ground. They were instructed to just gather enough for that day, and not to store it up. They were to trust God and that He would continue to send manna each day as long as they needed it. The only day they could collect extra is the day before the Sabbath. On that day, they were to collect a double portion to cover the Sabbath day when no manna would come..

40 years, Israelites received this provision.

After 40 years, it was all they knew. As they were nearing the end of their time in the desert, and they were about to enter the land that God had promised to them, those receiving the fulfillment of God’s promises were either born in the wilderness or they were very young children when the 40 year journey began. So, they literally only knew this type of provision from the Hands of God.

They were about to receive a whole new level of provision: varieties of food!

The book of Joshua tells us that the very day that the Israelites entered the new land, the manna stopped! 40 years of provision in that way just ended, cut off, no more. There wasn’t a weaning period or a slow reducing of the manna. Just done, no longer needed and no longer supplied.

I wonder if any of them grieved this loss. How many of them continued to go out in the early morning to look for it and to gather it? How many were hesitant to work the land or raise livestock because they were accustomed to daily manna? How many missed the manna and all the ways they may have learned to prepare it. It was their staple food for 40 years! And then as soon as their was a new way, the old way vanished.

Has something in your life ever ended so abruptly? It was there day after day, and you could count on it like clockwork, and then it just ended. Over without a weaning period. Did you keep trying to reclaim it?

The abrupt end of a job, relationship, way of thinking, a certain routine, a certain income stream, a certain daily happening or gathering, whatever it is… just stopped so suddenly. Possibly a brand new provision is being offered?

For most of the globe, that is exactly what is happening. Most of what we knew to be steadfast parts of society: gathering for worship, attending school, going to work, possibly going to a gym, evenings out to dinner, sporting events, gathering with friends, and more have all stopped.

And we are here still looking for them each day, hungering for them like manna.

Manna wasn’t a bad thing. It was a beautiful heavenly provision.

School, work, gathering for worship, evenings out, etc. These are good things just like manna was good.

But while they are paused, I can ASSURE you that God has a new provision waiting for you. But your eyes have to be open to receive the new provision. If you are looking for the old ways, you find them right now. But you can find a new peace. You can find a restoration of your home. You can find more family time. You can find goodness in humanity as people reach out to the hurting. You can find doctors and nurses giving their all. You can find companies working in new innovative ways to meet needs. You can find a precious reset and restore button if you look for it through all the rubble.

When an old provision ends, there is always a new one available.

I encourage you to look for your “new manna today.”

How is God providing for you in this season?

Dear Heavenly Father,

Help us up open our hands to receive provision in new ways. Give us eyes to recognize the gifts you are offering. Heal our hearts and apply comfort for the wounds. I pray for your peace to reign in the hearts of Your people. Let us shine so bright that people only see You in us. Lord, help us to be open to receive what You have provided for us in this time.

In Jesus’s name, Amen.