Emphasis Preaching Journal
Sermon Illustrations for Lent 4 (2016)
Illustration
Joshua 5:9-12
As the Hebrew people ate what was produced in the land of Canaan, I wonder if they stopped thanking God for those provisions. After all, they had been eating manna from heaven, a gift for which their only work was following the prophet Moses and now the prophet Joshua. Now they would have to plant and grow and harvest and prepare. There was work for them to do, work of their own hands. It would be easy to forget that even what we work hard for is still a gift from God, that God still deserves gratitude for what we have.
As the Hebrew people ate what was produced in the land of Canaan, I wonder if they stopped thanking God for those provisions. After all, they had been eating manna from heaven, a gift for which their only work was following the prophet Moses and now the prophet Joshua. Now they would have to plant and grow and harvest and prepare. There was work for them to do, work of their own hands. It would be easy to forget that even what we work hard for is still a gift from God, that God still deserves gratitude for what we have.
