The Day The Mana Ceased

The day the manna ceased. The day the manna ceased. Have you ever been at a spot where God's provision seems to cease? It seems to stop.

And this is a story of where they were counting on the manna and God eventually stopped it. Or there's other times in the Bible that we'll read about where God is providing and providing and providing, and then that provision ceases. It stops.

And there's a lot of lessons we can learn. But the greatest challenge we face are the difficult seasons as believers. The greatest challenges we face are going to be difficult seasons.

We might see those seasons coming up in the future with where our nation's going. And again, it's not going to be a long message. I want to get right back into worship, but I do want to encourage you with this type of message.

Spurgeon said, Be thankful for the thorns and the thistles which keep you from being in love with this world. I'm going to have to read that one over. Be thankful for the thorns and the thistles for the difficulties in life that keep you from being in love with this world.

Amen? I don't know about you, but the older I get, the more I hate this world. It's tough. The challenges are tough.

And that's where Christians, I think, many times, they're not prepared. Because we think, we believe, and rightly so, in many regards, the center of God's will, and there's joy, but it doesn't mean there's utopia. It doesn't mean that life's going to be free of challenges.

And I know we know that, but sometimes we forget it, and then when the challenges come, that's when we seem to obviously sidestep, not sidestep the Gospel, but sidestep biblical truth, and we try to fix things on our own. It just doesn't work. But the day the manna ceased was actually a smooth transition.

In Joshua 5, 10 through 12, it says the manna ceased. So God had been providing manna all of these years to the children of Israel in the wilderness. They would wake up, there's the manna.

God would provide for them, provide food for them. But there came a day when the manna ceased, and the manna, if you study a little bit, they think it was like a wafer, tasted like honey. It was probably really good from God, this natural food.

And so it ceased, and it stopped on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land, and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year. So year after year after year, God provided the manna. And then He finally got them into the promised land, and the day they got into the promised land and began the battle against all these cities, the day they ate of that food, God's provision ceased.

And it's a good reminder that we trust in God's timing. That is the key. He knew the exact day, His provision.

And so as we're trusting in God and provision and wanting God to meet our needs, His timing is key. And I don't know about you, but His timing doesn't line up with my timing very often. He's usually a little too slow.

Can anybody relate? Okay. But we know He's not slow, He's right on time. Trust in His timing, it is the key to successful living.

And one helpful thing is God actually doesn't live in the restraints of time. God is outside of time. I believe time is a created concept to govern our world and our system.

The time clock and God's sovereignty is on a certain schedule. But He is not subject to time. And it does get complicated, like how do you, because there's no past and there's no, He exists.

And He's outside of time. Don't become disgruntled, negative, and a complainer. It's a good reminder, why did they have to eat manna for 40 years? Because they were grumbling and complaining and negative.

And God will often keep you in a certain spot until He breaks that out of you. He'll keep you in that certain spot until you finally say, you know what, Lord, I'm sorry for being disgruntled. I'm sorry for being negative.

I'm sorry for being unthankful. God, I break out of that. Then often, the provision will follow.

Or the changes will take, sorry, the changes will take place because He wants to push that out of us. And we see that throughout the 40 year history. God kept, what's wrong with these stiff neck people? Why aren't they, why are they unthankful? Don't they know I brought them out of bondage and they just, but what happens is when we get out of our comfort zone and we start to be challenged and go through things that really we don't like going through, that's when we can become easily disgruntled.

We need an attitude adjustment. That is the key. How many of you have been reading Streams in the Desert, the devotional? It's not very many.

You got to get signed up online. It can be delivered to your email every morning. Written in the 1940s.

Streams in the Desert. It said this from a few weeks ago. Israel sang the song, Spring up, oh well, sing to it from Numbers 21.

They have been traveling over the desert's barren sands, no water was in sight, and they were famished with thirst. Then God spoke to Moses and said, gather the people together and I will give them water. And this is how it came.

They gathered in circles on the sands. They looked, or they took their staves, it's kind of like what we call a shovel, and they began to dig deep down into the burning earth. And as they dug, they sang the song, Spring up, oh well, sing ye unto it.

Sing unto the Lord. And there, out of that rejoicing, came a gurgling sound, a rush of water, and a flowing stream which filled the well and ran along the ground. When they dug this well in the desert, they touched the stream that was running beneath and reached the flowing tides that had long been out of sight.

Our praise still opens fountains of provision in the desert. And that's actually, that's one reason I just wanted to give a short message tonight is to remind us, remind those listening later, to remind those watching at home that praise is really gonna open up the foundations of provision. As we go through the difficulties in our nation, there's a lot of shenanigans going on.

Do we get bitter and angry? And, oh, I'm gonna sock somebody. No, you might feel that way like I do, but you repent. You repent of that, and you let your praise open the fountains of provision in the desert.

Lord, we praise You tonight, even in the midst of confusion. Lord, we look to You even in the darkest moments. Lord, we look to You, we praise You tonight, even when we don't understand what we're going through, even when the prodigal sons have not yet came home, and the wayward daughters have not yet called us back and came running back, and the provision, what are we gonna do with our finances? We don't have a lot of money left, and we can either grumble and complain, or we can praise God.

It is a choice that we make. How do I know? Because I often make this choice. The wrong choice.

Anybody relate? Come on, Saturday night, you gotta be honest tonight. And that's why I did wanna encourage you, because it's a shift, it's a change. You can go from grumbling to praising.

It's a choice in the mind. Take every thought captive. God, this stinks.

I don't like what I'm going through. My attitude has been wrong. I make the choice now to praise You in this storm.

I'm gonna praise You in this storm. I'm gonna look to You, and I don't understand it completely, but from that decision, the springs of living water flow up, bubble up. The joy comes back in your heart.

The desire to be back in God's Word comes back, and wanting to be back in church, wanting to praise Him, all from that transition of being a grumbler and a plainer and repenting of it, to now filled with the joy of the Lord. It's not a week-long process. Aren't you glad it did? Like, God's not like an angry CEO.

Okay, if you keep doing this, about a month from now, I'll reward you. It's immediate. It's an immediate reward.

But then we see not so smooth a transition in 1 Kings. So in Joshua, that's pretty cool. We've got manna, we've got manna, we've got manna.

Now we go into the promised land. Oh, that was a smooth transition. Basically, God took one source of provision and then gave them a different source of provision.

And you'll see that in your Christian walk. Sometimes, you'll have a source of provision that you're counting on. You ever been there? And then it's leaving.

I got a notice at work. Or cutbacks, layoffs. What I thought was going through is not going through.

All the investments and this provision now is stopped. But God has got other sources of provision. But because we're not a name-it-and-claim-it church, you know, blab it and grab it, the prosperity gospel, what I mean by that is there are a lot of churches, and here's why.

Because the Scripture, let's be honest, it talks a lot about God can bless you. You give and God rewards. I mean, there's a lot of verses about God wanting to bless His people.

You know, Abraham He blessed, and Job He blessed, and David He blessed, all the kings He blessed. And there's a lot of Scriptures on there. But what happens is when we come and we say, God wants everyone to be healthy, wealthy, and wise.

You just don't have enough faith. It's all about prosperity. And you're preaching prosperity, and that becomes the gospel.

Instead of seeking Christ, well, I mean wonderful people who are single moms or struggling families, and they might not ever have 150,000 in their bank account to rely on. They might, and so those sermons kind of fly over their head because God might just meet them every week, every month. But to say they don't have enough faith or they're not where God wants them to be, that's unbiblical.

And so that's what the prosperity gospel is. And a lot of these guys, that's why they drive Bentleys, live in 12,000 square foot homes, because they have to live the message, which is also not biblical. I think God's shepherds should be among the people, not the richest, not the poorest.

They live among the people. What is God's provision? And so sometimes though when that provision is taken from you, there's a process that you will go through. And it's not fun.

A lot of emotions come out. Have you ever been there where what you're counting on is no longer there? And you're running out of weeks and months? And like, Lord, you need to, you ever try to push God along? I do and it never works. And I don't know, I've told this story quite a few times over the years, but it fits really good.

I remember this, we've had seasons of provision. You know, and I think looking back, I was mad, but looking back then, I was mad because you mean money helps. Vacation, not worried about driving too much, gas.

I mean, it matters. It's the means by which we live. And so when we had just met, you know, I'm living with my mom and finances are not good and struggling and then working with my brother in construction, hard work for a couple years and just, she had to get a job and you know, we're just, I mean, week by week is how we were doing it.

And then construction exploded. I started my own company and then that really exploded. You go from not doing well to doing very well.

And then what happened in 2008? Yes. And so every month, savings, savings from what I built up the years prior. Pulling out savings.

Here we go, pulling out the savings. And you can't do that too long. And we're down to our last month.

I was, it was our last month and we're about ready. What am I gonna do? You know, call my mom, go get, so I had to actually just switch careers and I do quickly, very quickly. But God opened a different door of provision.

But during that time, your faith is really tested. You're not really tested when things are going good. When things are going good, that's when you live your life, you're thankful, you're rejoicing it, you help others, you save.

But that's not really where you grow. You grow when you look and you say, God, this is not gonna work. Next month or something next week or next year, Lord, this is not going to work.

I'm being stretched. My faith is being challenged. And as your faith is being challenged, you could get a call from the doctor.

And that can really rock your world and stretch your faith. And so it's in these difficult seasons, that's when the faith grows. Because you can look back and say, God brought me through that.

God brought me through that. I've been there, I can relate. And I've never seen a righteous soul famished, like David would say.

I've never seen the righteous begging for bread. There is a way where God will step in, He'll bring people into our lives that can really make that difference. And so, but I want to clarify that.

God has people in all stages of life. There are people that go here that are millionaires. I know who they are, they're millionaires.

I mean, like that would be nice to not ever, you know, right? Vacation whenever I want, car whenever I want. You know, and that's their life. But then there's others who are really struggling.

And who we help them out with, with rant or food or things. So I see the both ends of the spectrum. And many times there's spirit filled believers on both sides.

No one is, you know, they're not sinning and prideful and then this group is not, you know, poor because they're lazy. There's just, God just has different people where they're at. Some people have incredible opportunities and doors have opened.

I've seen those. Other people have had a hard life. The God sovereignty wasn't necessarily on their side in regard to huge financial doors.

And they live through it and they hold on to God. And many of you, have you heard of the different names of God in the Old Testament? It wasn't just called God. Actually, I should do a study on that some night because his name, it wasn't God.

That's an English translation, Yahweh and things. But that's why they would always call Him Jehovah-Jireh. So God, Jehovah-Jireh is my provider.

Jehovah-Sikkenu, Jehovah-Rapha, Jehovah, and there's names for Him where He would, there's one name, He is my banner. When you think of a banner, that's, oh no, that means I'm going to war. My war banner, I'm putting up, like they would put up a flag, United States conqueror, same thing.

God is my banner. He is my defense. And so every time God would supply a need, that became His name.

That's pretty cool. So they knew Him as healer and restore and provider and warrior and these different names of God. And that's what Christians, when they go through those things, they know God as these different names.

And that's why with a solid, mature believer, it's hard to rattle their cage and knock them away from faith. How are you going to, no matter what jesting there is, no matter how many atheists mock me or you, no matter what the liberal left says about us, no matter all these things they mocked about, it doesn't even, I know God. You don't.

So of course you act that way. There's strength in that, in knowing that. But the not so smooth transition.

1 Kings 17, and Elijah, who was a Tishbite, meaning from the land of Tishbite, he was one of the inhabitants of Gilead, he said to King Ahab, as the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain three years except at My word. So God dried up the land, the rain stopped. Then the word of the Lord came to him saying, get away from here, turn east and hide by the brook, which flows into the Jordan River.

So you picture, it's actually coming off the mountains there, this nice, have you ever drank from those cold, clear streams? Sometimes if we go hiking in the high Sierra Mountains and you get those snow, it's incredible. I wish I could bottle that water. But so he's by this brook, before it goes into the Jordan, which is a big river.

And he said there, it'll be that you shall drink from the brook, that will be my provision for you. And I've commanded the ravens, the ravens to feed you there. Now, it's actually kind of interesting, the different commentaries, because they look at the word.

Some of them, of course, would say that the birds fed him, but also this word can be translated like a different people group. Others would minister to him or they would bring him fruit, food or provision. The bottom line is God provided for him.

So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. That is key, that is key. So he went, how many of us can say that? You usually say, so he went and did some of what God said.

I don't know about that, Lord, that's a stretch. But he went and did according to everything God said and he stayed by the brook. And again, the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening and he drank from the brook.

So here he is, Ahab's going through a drought, but God's prophet is secure by this brook with food and water. However, it happened after a while that the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. So here is Elisha relying on this water and waters, you need that pretty often.

Don't do dry fasting too long because there had been no rain in the land. Notice how we are also affected when a nation or others sin. We don't want to forget about that.

So because God was judging Ahab and the rebellious people, Elisha also paid the price. You'll see that throughout the Old Testament, Jeremiah paid the price for the Israel sins, Ezekiel paid the price, Daniel paid the price, all the people with God's people paid the price because the sins affected others. So remember this, even in God's will, provision may cease.

Even in God's will, provision will cease. And here's why I'll get through this and we'll be back to worship. Number one, the reason sometimes provision stops is because God redirects us.

Comfort and complacency are sworn enemies of God's will. Often when God wants to, do you believe that God will lead you? Especially young adults, God wants to lead you. He wants to direct your lives.

And many times, let's say we're doing something and we're gonna keep doing it until the provision stops. And that's often sometimes how God moves us on. You'll see that a lot.

You're right, you're working somewhere and say this job just isn't working. I can't keep doing this or something, or they lay you off or whatever. Okay, now it ceases.

Now it's gotta, whoa, man. It's gotta cause me to move in a certain direction. I think I'll just stay right here.

So that's what it does. God removes the provision, it redirects. I just gave an illustration in my own life of when provision was dried up, I had to go do something else.

And I had to go do something else. And in the case of planting this church, what God did as far as redirecting, even though the provision didn't dry up, the provision was actually really good, my desires were changing. It no longer accomplished what it needed to accomplish.

Now we felt the desire to plant the church. And God will sometimes change the situations to redirect you. How many of you usually don't move unless God shakes it up a little bit? You don't move from your rental house until you get the letter in the mail that says we're selling this house in 30 days.

That's happened to us a few times. Not fun. It redirects you.

God, why is this happening? And I can't think of any time, maybe you can later, where God intervened, redirected, and it was bad. It was like, God, you really messed up. It's just, we can't see it right then.

That's why faith is so important. Faith is what we can't necessarily see. So because of the drought, Elijah ended up at the widow's house and miracles followed.

Jesus even talks about the widow. I'm not gonna get into the whole story, but do how many of you know the story of Elijah where he went and stayed with a widow? Blessed her immensely. So many miracles took place there, but God had to get him away from this current location into where he was going to be.

Number two, God will often dry up resources or the brook when He wants to restore us. Often we rely on the provision more than the provider. Boy, have we seen this a lot.

So many people, all of us, are susceptible, me too, where we rely on the provision, right? Things are going good. We begin, and we kind of get complacent. Have you ever been there? Heat, when you're cold, it keeps you close to the fire.

When you're going through difficult things, it keeps you close to God. But we start to count on the provision, and as a result, we sometimes drift from God. And as we begin to drift too much, He knows how to get you back on track.

So He might pull that provision or use some other means to get you back to Him and restore that relationship that you used to have with Him. Talking about my experience again, when I was with 24 Hour Fitness, that's what He did. I was doing very well, and towards the end, I wasn't doing well because I had to keep beating myself every year.

They call it same-store growth. You have to keep raising 6% and all these numbers. And all these things now are beginning to pressure me.

But that caused me to draw back to God. The fire, the pain, the mistakes, all these things, they actually demoted me from a district manager down to a manager again. And you go from the heights to the depths.

And I worked my way back up as a district manager, and then I quit the company because God had changed my heart. But had He not done that, and I wonder how many people stay distant from God because of, say, money and success, and they don't need God. What do you think is preventing LeBron James and Jordan and all these famous baseball players and football players from turning to God? They don't need Him.

They don't need Him. Jesus said it's hard for a rich man to enter heaven. Have you ever thought of why it's hard for a rich man to enter heaven? I mean, you can read that in the whole context and it makes a lot of sense because then the disciples are like, well, then who can be saved? Because they thought wealth equaled God's favor.

And wealth would get you into heaven. There's some cults that still kind of teach that. That's why people have to give.

And they have to build up the wealth of the church. But Jesus said it's hard for a rich man to enter heaven because the riches become his God. And the riches are what they're counting on.

I have no need for repentance. I have no need for God because this is my God. But when you begin to strip those things away from you and you realize I need God, I have nothing.

So as hard as it is, we have to thank God for the difficult seasons. We have to thank God for sometimes rocking our boat to wake us up. So He redirects us, He restores us, and then finally, oh, I should read that.

When provision is removed, whether it's a job, income, housing, inheritance, have you ever been there with inheritance? Investments, people are, they're counting on, I've heard this so many times, it's not a lot, but over the years, somebody's counting on like, oh, they left me a million dollars. And they didn't. There's no trust or will and it's in something called probate.

Side note, try to get a trust if you can. If you think it's not as easy to leave your inheritance to your kids, the state can intervene very easily. It goes into probate and then the state dictates what happens to it.

But when they're counting on this and everything falls apart, or I saw business deals where people thought this is it, this is where I'm gonna make my millions, this is where, and actually they lose everything. So when all that, when that provision ceases, when everything ends, that's when our true character comes out. That's when your true character comes out.

That's when you'll know what is truly in your heart. Now you might struggle for a minute, right? Like, oh, that's bad news. But what comes out when a vessel is struck? My mom used to tell me a lot.

When a vessel is struck, what's inside spills out. Those enormous oil tankers, when they hit a reef, what spills out? The Christian soul, when we're hit with bad news, what spills out? And I don't wanna be, you know, a doomsday-er and people say, be careful, because life and death is in the power of the tongue. But sometimes I do think about, what about if I do get that bad news someday from a doctor? You know, what's gonna come out? Everything I've been telling you guys for years isn't, you know, and I go into fear mode.

Oh, I don't even know what's going on. You know, so I wonder, what's inside is gonna spill out. So you try to prepare yourself a little bit, right? You know, and I know bad news isn't always God's news.

But there, you know, we all die. And how does that happen? I wanna, I just wanna be, whatever that is, I wanna be able to be a good example still to my family and to the church and to the kids. And again, I could be talking, you don't know, but I think about, do you ever think about that? Like, like if they said, hey, you know, Shane, man, this is, wow, I don't, stage four.

What's gonna come out of me? What's been going, what's been building up is what should come out. That's why it's so important to keep building on the right foundation. Amen, huh? Me and Morgan don't talk about it too much, but when we do, it's like, you better not remarry.

I'm joking, kinda lighten the, you guys are getting heavy in here. And then finally, if I can redirect us. So it can redirect us, it can restore us, but it can also rebuild us.

And I've already went through this earlier, so I won't do it a lot now, but we actually grow through the challenges. Our trust is built and our faith is strengthened. I wish it wasn't the case, especially for my kids and your kids.

We're gonna see them go through some hard things. We've got family members right now that are just hard things. She had tears over it.

But I know also that as they go through those things, as they lean on the rock, the relationship with God, they're gonna actually grow from it. So, and I can list dozens of very solid reasons of mature believers in this congregation. Every single one of them has been through hell and has survived the flames.

I mean, hell on earth, right? The prophet says when the waters, when you walk through those floods, they will not overcome you. When you go through the fire, you will not be scorched because I, the Lord, am your God. It's the best way to build maturity and trust and faith.

Show me somebody older, mature in their faith, who has not went through a lot. I can name names in this room right now. I'm thinking, I don't want to embarrass you, but it'd be a good embarrassment.

But you are role models to me because I know what you went through. So the final key is what he said, the Bible records. So he went and did according to the word of the Lord.

So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. Maybe that's for someone here tonight. This is pivotal.

If you're off track, if something is off with God, if your relationship with Him is distant or lacking, start here sometimes. He did according to the word of the Lord. What is God telling you to do? Sometimes it could be as simple as forgiving someone.

Maybe it could be some changes in your life. I think God wants us to make lifestyle changes from time to time. He will convict you about those changes because He knows what's best.

Maybe there's areas you're struggling in where you keep falling into that certain sin. And God says, you've got to break out of that. Break out of that and get accountability.

Do what I'm telling you to do. And when you go and do according to the word of the Lord, things start to line up. Doesn't mean it's easier, but you can get through the storms a lot easier.

Okay, I know I'm on the right path here. There's no one more miserable on planet Earth than the Christian. Halfway in the world, halfway in God's will.

I know I need to be doing this and I'm not miserable. One person can relate. We can all relate, right? But the good thing is to get back on that right track.

So no matter what, when your provision ends and the storms of life are beating against you, always cling to the cross, hold on to the hem of His garment and run to the refuge of God Himself. I talked about that Wednesday. Run to the refuge.

God is a rock and a refuge. A rock is stability. A refuge is something you run to.

We need both of them. And never forget Psalm 107. I just looked it up yesterday and wanted to add it.

Oh, that men would give thanks. I don't even think I have it on here. I sent the slides too late.

Just listen to this, just two sentences. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men, for He satisfies the longing soul and He fills the hungry soul with goodness. And it starts, oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord.

It's almost a plea from the psalmist. Oh, would you wake up and give thanks to the Lord? Yes, life is challenging. Yes, your marriage might be difficult.

Yes, the family life might be going crazy. Yes, there are things going on that you don't understand, but if you would just give thanks to the Lord and focus on His goodness, He will satisfy your longing soul and He will fill the hungry.