"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." --Joshua 5:12

"Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." --Luke 12:15

         This past week we have been following the progress of the Iditarod dog sled race in Alaska. There is a good Web site that gives stories and pictures from the race each day. A couple of entries caught my attention as I was thinking about this theme of moving from dependency to trust in the spiritual journey.

         The first was an incident along the trail. One of the mushers fell asleep while sitting on his sled one day. For some reason his dogs took off on their own and knocked him off the sled. He tried to run after them but could not catch them. About an hour later, five miles down the trail at the next checkpoint, the sled and dogs were spotted trotting along in perfect alignment, with excellent form and speed, but of course, no driver. The driver hitched a ride with the next team that came through, and when he caught up with his dogs, he said that perhaps he ought to drop himself from the team, since obviously they did not need him.

         The point is that the journey from dependency to "We don't need you" only works for a short time; it is not a good strategy for the long haul. The journey is to faith.

         The other thing that caught my attention was a picture. The race was difficult this year because there was a long stretch in which they go up the frozen Yukon River, and had to go against a 30-mile-an-hour headwind. This exhausted the dogs, not so much physically as emotionally. So in the picture was a Norwegian team. The driver was standing about ten feet from the dogs. They were all turned around, having had enough of the wind and deciding to run the other direction, with the wind to their backs. And he had to talk to them for five minutes before they gave in and joined him on the trail. They finally decided to trust him, although what he was asking did not make much sense to them.

         The journey of discipleship calls us to move from a simple dependency on Jesus, in which we receive his care, to a mature faith, to truly trusting him with our lives in obedience. It is not that trust in God and dependence upon God are opposed to each other. Rather, our times of dependency must lead then to seasons of trust, to lives of faith and obedience.

         The problem is that if our dependency does not mature into faith, it can lead us to greed, to a self-centered way of living. That is to say, by nature we like to have the wind at our backs. Discipleship calls us to a deeper commitment.

         This journey to faith is wonderfully illustrated in the life of Israel when they came to the day when the manna stopped. For 40 years Israel lived in dependence upon God's special provision. Manna was God's gift for the desert journey. Israel lived as collectors of that provision. It was a daily and constant reminder of the presence of God with them.

         But there were problems with living in dependence upon manna. They grew tired of eating it. Numbers 11:4-6: ". . . if only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost- also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic."

         They also became dependent upon it. They put no labor into it. It was there for the taking each morning. They became mere collectors of what belonged to someone else. Over time their focus became more on the provision rather than on the provider.

         So, the day the manna stopped was for them a momentous day, a day of celebration and no doubt a day of some nervousness. It was a celebration day because it signaled that the wilderness wandering was over, and they had indeed made it to the Promised Land. All along the journey, they had carried with them "the reproach of Egypt." David Howard explains that all during this time the Egyptians would have received reports of the Israelites wandering aimlessly in the desert and would have laughed or heaped scorn upon them. "Surely Israel's God has abandoned them." But now, having entered the Promised Land, they celebrate the first Passover in 39 years, and they tell the story of their escape from Egypt, now completed with the story of their entry into God's Promised Land. Then they began to eat the produce of the land, at first just roasted grain and unleavened bread; but in eating the land's produce they knew that soon they would be planting and harvesting. They would be growing their own food. Howard writes, "What a joyous occasion this was, for the Israelites finally to be able to partake of the Promised Land's goodness and to see a tangible sign that their wilderness exile was over."

         I think this was also a joyful time for them because they had now moved from being collectors to being farmers. They were moving into the freedom and responsibility of agriculture. They were trusting God and also working in their fields. That is really what faith is: trusting God for provision and working in the fields.

         The temptation in our lives is to stay in a condition of dependency. That leads to a self-preoccupied life, always thinking about our own survival, our own needs. It leads to greed, a life of storing instead of laboring and giving. It leads to becoming rich, but not rich towards God.

         Jesus was on a journey to Jerusalem, and he was teaching his disciples about living by faith, before he went to the cross. The journey was interrupted by a man who wanted him to be a judge. Apparently he and his brother could no longer live in harmony, so he wanted his share of the land. If he was the younger brother, he would have needed some assistance to get this to happen. So he came to a teacher, someone with authority to force the older brother to act. Jesus refused to help him, because he discerned that greed was behind this request.

Then he told a parable about a farmer who became a collector. This man harvested a great crop one year, and so he decided to stop working, and to stop trusting. His life became oriented towards his possessions. He stored his grain in a new, large barn, and kept it all for himself. Now he did not have to trust God for his provision. Now he did not have to share with the poor, or give his tithe. Now he could be provided for and not be rich towards God. But that very night, he died.

         So Jesus calls us to a life of faith, where we must trust God, and also go to work in the field. Faith is risky, it makes us vulnerable. Work is hard and sometimes the wind is in your face all day. And yet this is the journey to the love of Jesus. It is the life of discipleship.

Dependency is all about being cared for, and having our needs met. There are times when this is necessary, and we thank God who helps us when we are weak. But we must not stay in that place too long. When we have been healed, or rested or given resources, we are to move on to faith. Perhaps the disciples were stuck in this dependency. They watched Jesus but were unable to minister themselves; they followed Jesus, but had trouble obeying him. Their need was to come to the cross, and to experience in the death of Christ the victory over sin, death and evil. They needed to see the empty tomb and believe, to see and hear and touch the Risen Jesus, to be filled with the Spirit at Pentecost. Then they would move ahead in discipleship and mission.

Faith is both trusting and doing, it is both grace and obedience. It is being forgiven and forgiving, it is being healed and healing others. It is both prayer and practice.

Faith is "I Surrender All" and "We've a Story to Tell to the Nations." Faith is receiving grace and being rich towards God:

         "Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all."

         Amen.