18 October 2007 Devotion for Today “Facing Our Jericho Part 1” Joshua 6:1-5
1 Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. 2 Then the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in." (Joshua 6:1-5 NIV)
When Joshua was told to go up against Jericho, he spent a lot of time getting ready. But sooner or later, we can be as ready as we know how to be, and its time to make the move. What confronted him I am sure probably caused him to gulp real hard. Here were walls that were at least 40 feet high- probably even higher. According to some archeologists, Jericho actually had two walls- an inner wall made of brick and an outer wall made of stone. But as much as we think about the walls in this chapter, not one word is mentioned about the walls of Jericho- not until verse 5 do we even hear one word about them. What was mentioned first is the people marching, the priests, the trumpets, the ark of the covenant, etc. Not one word about the wall. There is a reason for this. It was because of emphasis. They were emphasizing God’s ability to face Jericho and overcome whatever it was that lay on the other side, not the problem that confronted them. The emphasis included the fact that the children of Israel were to walk around the wall of Jericho one time, and then another, and then another- one time a day for 7 days and then on the 7th day they were to march around the wall 7 times. Victory was assured because they did it in God’s timing. True, we meet up against all kinds of different walls in our walk with the Lord. These walls will test our faith- but it depends on our focus, our emphasis. Are we focusing on the walls, or are we focusing upon God? Joshua shows us that walls are not dead-ends, but as opportunities for the Lord to work in our lives!
I think it also interesting that Joshua told his people to be quiet! Not to say a peep! Why? Because he knew their history! A history of griping and complaining! A history of murmuring against Moses and Aaron. And for 40 years the children of Israel making circles in the wilderness, and not experiencing the richness of the land that flowed with milk and honey. Jesus warned us about that when He said in Matthew 15:11 “It is Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.” Oh I’m not talking about curse words and four-letter-words that are nasty things to say. Its all the complaining that gets done and our attitudes of lack of support when we are called on to do something. If Joshua had not commanded them to be quiet, you know what the people of Israel would have done or said the whole time they were marching around the city? The same thing we as Baptists do when we are told to do something (actually you can’t tell Baptists to do anything, you have to ask them to, and still they will say: “What in the world are we doing this for. This is stupid! Marching around Jericho 7 times, etc. Well I’m not doing it!” And try to do everything they can not to cooperate simply because it was requested of them. These Scriptures emphasize the reason we don’t need to complain: . Philippians 2:14 the Bible says, "Do all things without murmuring and disputing. " James 5:9, "Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!"
Joshua knew, what Jesus knew, what we know right down to even today that the biggest walls that we often face are not in the opposition which is before us, but in the walls built up within the attitudes of our own hearts. I believe with all my heart that there are few problems that we as Christians have at times that cannot be fixed with a great thousand-foot roll of duct tape! And apply it firmly and snugly to our lips! God needed Joshua to tell the people they had to be united not only in their purpose, but in their attitude. Look don’t complain about it, don’t fuss about it, don’t murmur about it- just do it. Just get the job done!
Have a blessed day!
Rev. Jeffery C. Russell
Salem Baptist Church
Elizabeth City, NC
jefferyrussell@embarqmail.com
jcrussell@liberty.edu
Church website: http://25621.lifewaylink.com
Devotion Archives: http://www.msnusers.com/DevotionforToday
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