WEDNESDAY 28th
Joshua 6
NIV (v20) – ‘When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city.’
ESV (v20) – ‘So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city.’
I suppose it would be wrong for me to pass over this chapter, a story we all know very well, and I remember when I was a child the way that we loved to sing with gusto the song that goes with it.
Around the walls of Jericho,
Around the walls of Jericho,
Around the walls of Jericho, the army went.
Seven times without a stop,
Seven times without a stop,
Seven times without a stop, the army went.
When the people gave a SHOUT,
When the people gave a SHOUT,
When the people gave a SHOUT, the walls fell down.
There are so many lessons we can learn from this story, as examples I will consider two.
Firstly, the lesson of Obedience – who on earth in their right mind is going to expect to see a city’s walls collapse simply by marching around it seven times for seven days? Imagine a group of us going around a local City in the same fashion, expecting the city walls to tumble on the seventh day. But in Joshua 6 the instruction had come from God and however ridiculous it may have seemed from the human point of view, this was God at work, this was God’s business and it required simple faith and obedience, it teaches us that if God says he is going to do something, then we should obey and play our part, it is up to God to do what he is going to do as a result of our obedience.
The second lesson is that of persistence, to march around the city one day was probably a tall order for some of them, but to have to do it twice, three times, four times . . . six times, surely God could cause the walls to fall after the first time, it would save them a lot of time and effort, not to mention the shoe leather, but no, there is more, on day seven march around it seven times! ‘You got to be joking?’ No, this was God’s instruction, persist in it and see the victory God will bring about. And it happened.
I think that impatience is one of my weak points, especially in the car in the traffic, if I can find even the slightest chance of dodging and avoiding a queue, I will take it. I wonder how many of us are a little impatient when it comes to our Christian walk, we want to see things happen sooner, we want to do something before time, we want this and that, and when it comes to prayer we expect immediate answers, we just struggle with being persistent and waiting for God’s timing. Maybe our problem issues back to my first point, that of obedience, we know what God is wanting us to be doing, but it will be too much effort, hard work, surely there is a better way, and we end up lingering at the doorway of obedience, dithering as to whether to commit to obeying or instead to not commit at all. Victory will only be available to us if we are willing to obey and to persist in that which God is calling us to do.