“Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days.'” (Joshua 6:1-3).
In this story, Joshua proceeds to instruct ALL the fighting men of Israel to walk around the city in silence one time for the next six days. And for six days, nothing happened. How silly must these men feel? How confused must the people of Jericho be? Why aren’t they treating this like a normal siege? I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have had plenty of moments like this in my life. In our pursuit to follow God, instead of taking the “normal” path we are called to take the unconventional route. One that is often met with more adversity and less worldly benefits. One that gets us questioning God like, “If I am doing this for you, then why are you making this so hard for me!?”
That brings me to my next point. The part I am looking for in this story is where the leaders of the different tribes of Israel pull Joshua to the side and say, “Are you sure? Are you sure that this is what God wants us to do?” I mean it is one thing to have the faith to follow God’s plan to a t when it is just you, but this is ALL of Israel we’re talking about. Roughly 40,000 fighting men according to the text. How do you stand tall when all of these people around you are depending on you? Better yet, how do you stand firm when those closest to you are questioning you?
I think the outcome of this story makes this extremely apparent. On the seventh day, “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.” (Joshua 6:20).
This story ends with God making good on the promise that he gave to Joshua. “I have delivered Jericho into your hands”. There are two things we need to notice here. 1: God has already defeated Jericho and is now allowing the people of Israel to capture the city. He is making good on his promise so long as the people of Israel remain faithful and follow his instruction.
2: God told Joshua this was his plan and promised him the city as an end result. One thing we tend to do with our faith is we set out to do something, we pray and have faith that God will give us that thing, and then we get upset when we do everything right and don’t get what we wanted. We forget the crucial part of stopping to see God’s plan in the first place.
If there is one thing I have learned in my life, it is that quite frequently my plan and God’s plan for me could not be more polar opposite. In fact, He often sees something in you that you do not see in yourself. When we do receive a plan from God, we wonder why we are met with resistance or any type of challenge. We forget that even Jesus was forced into the wilderness to be tempted and forged into the man God needed him to be in order to start a ministry that would shape the very fabric of the world we know today.
In a few days, I will be leaving to meet the rest of my squad in Georgia for a 10-day training camp. I am ecstatic to report that I am absolutely terrified. Not about meeting my fellow Racers, but about taking the next official step to being considered a missionary. I can’t report any promise from God regarding this mission and I can’t report a strategy given to me by God to follow as the story in Joshua posses. But I can tell you this…
The past few months, I have felt more challenge, pressure, and confused looks than I ever have in my life revolving around the World Race and the path God has set me on. The past few days has seen an intense amount of intervention from the enemy in Turkey. As camps are destroyed and ISIS troops are released as a result, I have received more and more warnings and discouragement from loving family members and supporters to reconsider my place. Some actively attempting to sabotage my involvement in the Race and my support effort. To all this I say, we are coming with the Spirit of God and the enemy could not be more terrified.
