Over the years I have chosen the month of MAY for personal reflection.
It helps me anchor my walk with the Lord and clarify the compass for the journey ahead. What I have chosen to do in this blog for all of May is to post possibly a short devotional a day with the following outline: SOAP.
S is for Scripture. O is the observation I make from the Scripture. A is the Application that comes out of the Scripture and P is Prayer.
I pray you will be blessed.
Scripture
"The manna ceased on the day after they had eaten some of the produce of that land, so that the sons of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate some of the yield of the land of Canaan during that year." (Joshua 5:12)
Observation
Manna! What a miracle...to see a divinely sourced breakfast, lunch and dinner catered all through dessert. No one would deny that this was a great miracle indeed!
But it ceased. And when it did, it didn't mean that the people were doing anything wrong...in fact, this "now" generation was better than the former grumblers. These were warriors, not gripers - yet the manna ceased and they ate the produce of the land.
How boring! How normal! How predictable.
When manna rained down, it was gathered by gripers and idolators. But here, the ones that ate apples and oranges, olives and dates - they were warriors and God fearing people. But we say that's not a miracle.
Yet God provided. Sometimes I think a miracle is manna, not olives...a miracle is what appeared before us but not that what we cultivated for ourselves. No, the produce of the land is just as much a miracle as the manna is, and maybe even more! The Promised Land people were being provided for by God.
Application
Here is what I am learning: God still is the Provider, but I must not dictate to Him how He wishes to provide and then call one a miracle and the other just ordinary stuff. I will not be the one who defines what shall be a miracle and what shall not be.
There have been unexplainable victories in the church, but I have seen many others that are explainable. It happened because of careful attention was given to little things, hard work, lots of advance planning, tons of effort and hours of prayer. It took place because leaders led, servants served, and we did not do it with comparison to one another, but as a team. Many of our community events bear testimony to that like the recent TGIF Block Parties where we saw 44 salvations!
But that victory must not be any less a miracle than manna, for indeed it might even be a greater miracle. One that took place with people who are not predisposed to working with one another yet they did! It happened because individuals laid aside personal agendas for the whole.
Explainable victories. Explainable results. Extraordinary miracles not a bit less!
Prayer
Father, thank You for Your Word! It helps me to develop a balanced apologetic and clear picture of how You work. I will leave the definitions to heaven and instead will rejoice in the fruit.
