And the walls came tumbling down.

This is an all to familiar story for me. I don't know how many times I've read this story, watched Vegetales on this story, or even acted this story out. God helped Israel take Jericho with a shout. Woop-dee-doo, okay let me go on with my life. That seems to be the reaction I have to this story most times I read it in the past. It's not that I don't marvel at how it is a crazy story or at how God is amazingly strong. It's just that after I read it, it leaves no impacts on my life.

Trust me, I've shouted at many walls in my life, and they don't come tumbling down. Far from it. Sometimes shouting at my problems make them disappear for a season, which feels good, but then they suddenly reappear taller than ever--'..uhh..that's the opposite of what I wanted God!' seems to always be my response. Other times, I respond to the addictions, sins, and idols in my life by taking the other approach that I see in this passage -- silence. I avoid the problem. Again, not much victory in that front either.

Shouting did not provide the Israelites victory. Silence did not provide the Israelites victory. Obedience to God's instructions is what made God show His power by bringing down the walls of Jericho. The very careful execution of God's instructions even when it seemed hard or foolish to do is very hard for me. But it is important, I must be obedient despite what my flesh might otherwise tell me to do.

But obedience did not provide the Israelites with victory either. God was ultimately what caused the walls to come tumbling down. I must remember that it is not my obedience that does anything. It is God who causes strongholds to come tumbling down. Throughout this story, as they were following God's instructions, God was always in kept in the center of it all. The ark was a reminder to them that God was what gave them victory. As I come to depend on Jesus, especially in times when my walls of temptations are in my face, I find victory.

But victory against Jericho is not victory. Victory is a lifetime journey with God. It is not a time point or an event. Victory is constant and it causes me to look at God, and not myself and how 'good' I must have been to be obedient to God and that God would give me victory. It's funny how my mind can play tricks on me. Sometimes I feel like I have fully depended on God to have victory only to realize a year or two later that I wasn't really depending on God. I am on my road of victory through Jesus Christ, and it's amazing. But I must remind myself that victory is not an event because as I look back, I see that every time I regarded victory as an event, I would inevitably (even if I purposely tried not to let it happen) , become proud and stop depending on God and fall again. In this chapter, Joshua told the Israelites not to take anything. That there was a ban on the things of Jericho for it was God's. I am reminded of all the times in the Bible where the people intermingled with who they were not supposed to intermingle with or indulged in what was not theirs, and how it often caused their hearts to swell up with pride and forget about God. Here, Joshua is reminding them that it is not their doing, but God's doing.

I think there is more to be said in this chapter also about the love of God for Rahab, so that shall be something I need to study more another time. All in all, from my study today, I am reminded that this is applicable to my life. I have many walls in my life that I need God's help to overcome. Overcoming them requires obedience on my part, but more importantly, it requires the victory provided by Jesus. Along my way, there will be many mini-victories, but I must press on and not regard them as victories, for my prize isn't being victorious or monetary gain or respect in the church. My prize is God Himself.

Another quick last note about something I see in this passage..they did it as a team. Everyone struggles with walls in their lives. At different times in our lives, we will struggle with different things, but we all struggle. I need to get myself a better support system and be brutally honest about the walls in my life so that we can battle together. I need to make this story...this battle...living and real to me today. I can have it no other way. To God be the glory!

Created 8 months ago