Joshua 5:9–12 (NRSV)
Read Joshua 5:9–12 on biblegateway.com
Verse 9The Lord said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt." And so that place is called Gilgal to this day.
Verse 10While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. Verse 11On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. Verse 12The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.
Devotion
In a time of journey, whether it be 40 years of journey through the wilderness, 40 days of journey through a crisis, or 40 hours of anxiety or despair, God’s promise holds us. God’s promise is unconditional, which means it is always offered to us, no matter where we are, who we are, or in what situation we may be. God’s promise rolls away all those things that burden us. God’s promise is an open embrace, an invitation to a feast with a fatted calf, to which all are welcome. God’s promise feeds us every day in unknown ways—like manna in the desert—and then, when we are again “at home,” on the land, reconciled with one another, within ourselves, with creation, God’s good intention is made visible. We eat together and all have enough. We celebrate together and no one is left out. God’s promise sustains us and our neighbor.
Prayer
God of promise, you carried your people through the wilderness; carry us now through the complexities of life, the anxieties and despair, that we may again rejoice in you and in one another. Amen.