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One of Moses’ last acts on earth was to individually bless the tribes of Israel.

It was one of the ways God prepared them for what was ahead. They were about to enter a serious transition, although in many ways a very good one.

They were going from the wilderness to the promised land. God did several things to prepare the children of Israel to adapt to the situation on the ground. Perhaps two of the most significant events that changed for the Jewish people have to do with the way God related and revealed himself to his people.

The first had to do with how the children of Israel got their food while in the wilderness. Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 tells us that what happened to them was to teach us spiritual principles. Manna can be compared to spiritual daily bread. They went from being fed by their parent, to having to provide their own meals. Most children make the change very easily, but every now and then there is one or two that want to be baby fed. Paul laments this truth when he said, “I gave you milk, and not meat, because you were a baby.” The child was not growing up.

The other major change for the children of Israel, and this is never specifically mentioned in the Bible, is that the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night disappeared. The three purposes of the cloud and fire were for direction, illumination, and assurance, that God is with us. God changed the way he related to his children. God changed and transitioned the way He chose to reveal himself to the children of Israel.

A lot of the chosen Jews were probably very troubled by that and probably felt that God had left them. Perhaps they kept looking for God to reveal himself in the old familiar way, of the cloud and fire, but God never went back to doing things that way. This was the “new normal” for the Jewish people.

Transition is how we adapt when God or life requires us to move from one state of being to another.

COVID thrust many of us into a state of transition. I will begin a new ministry with Heartland Hospice in Lynchburg as spiritual care coordinator.

First Baptist Church Dillwyn is beginning the preparations to begin the process to call their next pastor.

We must walk into the future step by step, daily trusting God to lead us into that future God has planned for us. Where is God doing a new thing in your life, your “new normal?”

God’s transitions are always to reveal something better. Manna was replaced with a land flowing with milk and honey, and the cloud and fire ultimately gave way to the child, born in a manger. Go with God as you walk into something bigger.