BEFORE

Today's reading: Joshua 1-5

"No manna appeared that day, and it was never seen again. So from that time on the Israelites ate from the crops of Canaan." Joshua 5:12 NLT

I love it when I find a new morsel to chew on in my Bible reading.

Sure, I love being reminded of things I knew...but to find a new gem? Priceless!

Like this morning...

I knew in the first few chapters of Joshua, God's people crossed into the Promised Land.

I knew within a short dive into Joshua the Israelites fought the battle of Jericho...Jericho...Jericho.

But I had never noticed this morning's verse--that God fed them from the bounty of Canaan BEFORE they'd even fought the first fight, settled the first skirmish, waged the first war or battled for the first boundary.

He fed them 'milk and honey' in a land that was going to be theirs because He had already claimed it for them.

Before.

Before they'd walked too deeply into its borders.

Before they were handed a deed.

Before they began to build homes and grow their own crops.

God chose to feed them from the land, their land, His land, the Promised Land.

Before.