Cut It Out!

So I am reading through Joshua and I really like the example set forth in chapter five: “Circumcision at Gilgal.” Alright, alright, get over your laughter. Now for the analogy (I love metaphors, by the way). This happened right before the fall of Jericho. God was preparing His people for the great victory He had for them… by crippling them? His plan most likely did not make much sense to the men. It’s actually funny to think about seeing their reactions to what Joshua was telling them, if you had been there. Well, if I had been there, I would have been thanking God that I was a woman!

Anyway, God has all the men circumcised: these men were born in the desert during the journey from Egypt to Canaan and had not experience this. It then says that “they remained where they were in camp until they were healed” (verse 8). That was quite thoughtful of God, don’t you think? After that, they prepared for battle.

What I think is neat about this is that God has them cut away (literally) something that identifies them with the world so that they can be then known as set apart. Other nations did not have this tradition-it was a sign that the male was consecrated to God. And I think that this (metaphorically) applies to our lives today. What do I need to “cut out” of my life that, with it, makes me look like just another person in the world? What habit needs to be broken? What mindset needs to be changed?  For me, personally, it is all in my thought process and priorities. I have a relationship with God, but what is it that keeps coming in and trying to keep me from growing? Too much focus on success in school, too much dependence on friends, too much daydreaming about relationships, too much trying to control everything in my life… these are all areas that I personally struggle in. Notice I said “too much” for each of these. I believe that it is important to have success in school (do it all for God’s glory, 1 Corinthians 10:31), and to have friends to rely on, etc. But these all can get in the way when I don’t let it be something that I am doing through God.

Something else cool about this story is found in verse 12, after the Israelites celebrate the Passover with food from the plains of Jericho:
“The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce of Canaan.” 
Once they got to where God had wanted them in the first place (if only their faith hadn’t been so weak), they didn’t have to be spoon fed by God. I am sure that the manna was good in the desert when they had nothing else, but as they grew they needed more variety, more sustenance, and they needed to be able to do it on their own. God didn’t put them out in the desert and not provide, but as they got to their destination He provided in a different way.

I don’t want to be stuck eating manna for the rest of my life. I appreciate it, don’t get me wrong, but it has been so much more satisfying to be able to discover God on my own and not just through words that someone else has chewed up and spit out to me momma bird style. Manna is good for a season, but there comes a time to grow up and eat of the richness that is out there. Now, that produce was not sitting on the ground outside their tents every morning like the manna was; they had to harvest it themselves. Same with living off of the Word – there are times when you have to dig deep for it. But in Jeremiah 29 it says “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” Search for God, and He will be found.

 

Two main points from the twelve verses I read tonight:
1) What needs to be circumcised from your life?
2) Are you still trying to live off of manna when God has provided rich produce for you (if you will only harvest it)?