the fall of jericho
Does anyone remember the VeggieTales episode of “The Fall of Jericho”? I loved that episode. To be fair, I loved every episode. Anyways, moving on… The Fall of Jericho is a crazy story to me. The Lord instructed Joshua to march around Jericho's walls for six days; on the seventh day, they’d all shout, and the wall would fall down and Jericho would be theirs. I don’t know about you but if God told me to walk around a city for six days and yell at it on the seventh, I’d have some questions. But Joshua and his people did it.
Before God gave Joshua the plan, He said “I HAVE given Jericho into your hand.” The battle was already over from God’s perspective. From the human perspective, our perspective, the battle was far from over. So often we take our situations as they are, but we forget that God has a different perspective. He’s got the correct perspective.
Joshua and the Isrealites had to be patient. They had to wait seven days before the promise God made was fulfilled. I’m sure many, if not all, of the people felt extremely silly. Walking around a wall for six days, while purple slushies were thrown on them. (Disclaimer- historically purple slushies weren’t dropped on them, but if you watch the VeggieTales episode you’ll get that.) But it took some serious faith and patience in God to continue to walk in circles as they were criticized and made fun of.
There have been times in my life where God has asked me to do something and I’ve felt silly and it’s taken patience to continue following him. From my angle, it appears as if nothing is happening. The only thing that is happening is criticism from other people. God doesn’t always ask us to do things that are comfortable and fun for us. Typically it’s quite the opposite. But these moments create areas of growth.
The people of Isreal didn’t walk by sight but by faith. It took courage for Isreal to follow this plan. They were wide open to attack at this time, but God protected them. They knew the battle was bigger than them. It required a strong faith in Joshua to lead the nation with his plan and a strong faith in the nation to follow Joshua in the plan.
The point I want to get across is that we cannot rely on our own human wisdom and perspective, we have to rely on God’s wisdom and perspective. Jericho is another example where we see the wisdom of God as opposed to human wisdom. Israel faced and conquered their most difficult opponent first. Not only did they conquer Jericho, but they also did it in a way that made absolutely no sense from a military intelligence perspective. They relied solely on God.
There are walls in your life that God has promised into your hand and you may be frustrated because it hasn’t been placed in your hand. You have to believe that because God has promised it to you, He will give it to you. It requires a tremendous act of faith and endurance. I’m sure the people walking around Jericho were exhausted, but because they had great faith in God, they continued to put one foot in front of the other until it was time for the wall to fall. Are you relying solely on God?
“And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.”
Joshua 6:2-5
