Don't Stop At Six...

The account about how the walls of Jericho came crashing down in Joshua chapter 6 is an intriguing one. I can only imagine the look on the faces of the Israelite army when Joshua began to explain to them how they were going to take over Jericho. Jericho had heard about the Israelites and so their city had been put on lockdown because of their fear of being  destroyed. The city gates were locked and no one was allowed to go in or out.

God instructed Joshua to have the men of war march around the city, circling it one time every day for 6 days, in silence.  How stupid they must have looked; soldiers just walking around a wall quietly. Everyone knows that soldiers are trained to fight, to win battles through fighting and not through walking. It must have been funny to see strong men march around Jericho every day for six days. Sometimes, God asks us to do things that may not make sense to us but all we need to do is to be obedient because  He knows what He is doing.

The army of Jericho was probably ready with their gear to strike as soon as the Israelite soldiers started walking towards their city on that first day, and they may have let their guard down when they noticed that the Israelite army was only circling the wall of Jericho. Little did they know what God had orchestrated!

I was reminded of how the march around the wall of Jericho is similar to our dealing with giants we face; the obstacles in our day to day life that prevent us from being all that we are called to be. We may have been marching around these walls with prayer, meditation on God’s word, obedience and faith yet the walls in our lives seem to only get taller.

We may have been walking for days, months or even years and we are at the point where we are too tired to take another step. Today, the Holy Spirit wants to remind you not  to stop after the sixth time because your seventh day is here! Your shout on the seventh day will cause your walls to fall.

Don’t let the weariness and seemingly lack of God's answer make you stop before you see your walls fall on the seventh day! I know God, and I know He will bring those walls crashing down. Just like he told the Israelites - “Look, I have handed Jericho, it’s King and it’s best soldiers over to you,” He wants to remind you that that He has already handed you victory in whatever you are facing.

Continue yielding to Him in silence because when you finally shout on the seventh day, not only a brick or a portion of that wall you’re facing will come down, but the whole wall will come crashing down. God has already won the victory for us. We just need to keep walking and allow Him to do the fighting. 

Love,

Alice