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Now the gates of Jericho were tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites. No one was allowed to go in or out. But the LORD said to Joshua, "I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its mighty warriors. Your entire army is to march around the city once a day for six days. Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram's horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the horns. When you hear the priests give one long blast on the horns, have all the people give a mighty shout. Then the walls of the city will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the city." Joshua 6:1-5 (NLT)

I refuse to believe that this was just another game of ring-around-the-posy. Although the command of silently marching around a city wall may have seemed ridiculous to Israel it worked. As we continue this series in being obedient, we realize that we can also experience victory. However, this is not victory obtained by human hands but God’s hands. It is divinely designed victory. It is God’s sovereignty inserted into the annals of time and space on our behalf—in this case Israel’s behalf. In a display of what was to come if they obeyed his voice, God handed over the first phase of victories to the children of Israel. Almost to show them how effortless this war campaign could be if they only trusted in him. Days earlier he had parted the Jordan at their feet so they could cross at its highest point in the season. Now the inhabitants of Canaan (Jericho city) were trembling at the thought of facing Israel and their God (see Joshua 6:1). This is a wonderful picture of the calm and peace we can possess when God is on our side and the opposite when we become the enemy of God. With God working on our behalf from our obedient submission to him, nothing will stand in the way of his agenda. Let’s go back to the seemingly “ridiculous” command. All historical evidence suggests that Jericho was a heavily fortified city. At that point, Jericho was one of the world’s oldest inhabited settlements with outer walls 12-15 feet high and inner walls as high as 26 feet each set probably as wide as 5 feet thick. Seemingly impregnable, right! Then the city itself probably took up about 9 acres of land including the area of the walls. So imagine marching around two Super Wal-Mart centers (put together) and then yelling as loud as you can and the walls falling flat—I don’t think so. This was an improbable task that took courage, faith and most of all obedience. But here is the lesson to us, faith never requires us to fully understand God’s plan, but it does require us to obey him (see Hebrews 11:6 and John 14:15). I believe that although God calls us to gain knowledge of his character (through prayer and study of the scripture), we will never fully understand (comprehend with our finite minds) all that he does. In our desire to please him, we must obey him. This path of obedience may often lead us to a point of unconventional wisdom. It may lead us to scorn or ridicule from others. I don’t imagine that the Israelites had the easiest time trying to comprehend why they were doing what they were doing on the third or fourth day of their march. But God knew in his infinite wisdom what the plan was all along and he just required obedience on the part of his people to grant the victory. This becomes a beautiful picture of a loving Father waiting to bestow a blessing on his child that obeys his instruction without hesitation. No matter the difficulty. No matter the probability of failure. God wants our full devotion to him. Victory is waiting for those willing to obey.

"Today's Little Lift" from Jim Bullington

Mercy and not Sacrifice (Sept. 30, 2010)

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