Hello Friends,
It has been almost 5 months since I have blogged. As much as I love sharing in this space it can be difficult to make time for it with Grayson creeping up on two, the two other boys and a teenager. Life has a way of getting chaotic pretty quickly. Today I wanted to talk about the Battle of Jericho and what God has been showing me through it.
You can find the Story of Jericho in the Old Testament in the Book of Joshua. The Book of Joshua begins with Joshua coming into Leadership over Israel afte-r Moses has died in the wilderness. But first before we get started let me give you a brief backstory because to understand what happens as Jericho and how it relates to our lives today we first must understand why its important.
Gods chosen people, the Israelites, were enslaved by the Egyptians and had lived in Egypt for 430 years (Exodus 12:40). They worked in terrible conditions, were beaten and their firstborn sons were murdered with the command of the Pharaoh because he feared their number. They cried out to God to be delivered from Egypt and God heard their cries and sent them Moses. God used Moses to preform historical signs and wonders and eventually Pharaoh set the Israelites free. God promised the Israelites a “promise land” but they had to obey and keep the commands of the Lord. I am minimizing this Story but I encourage you to go and read all the things that God did through Moses in the book of Exodus.
God parted the Red Sea so the Israelites could walk to safety on dry ground and they began their 11 day Journey to the Promise Land. Well, if you don’t know the story the 11 day journey turned into 40 years wandering because Moses and the Israelites did not do as God commanded. Because of their Sin against God all the first generation that had been delivered out of Egypt with the exception of Joshua and Caleb died in the Wilderness and never saw the Promise God gave them fulfilled.
God is our promise keeper but its important that we keep his commands and do as he asks or the things He has promised us gets delayed or worse yet we may never see them in our lifetime. We see this time and time again in scripture but he also tells us in 2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and heal their land”.
So after Moses dies, Joshua is anointed to lead the Israelites into their promise land. The first Battle is Jericho.
Now, Jericho was a city surrounded by a stone wall and a large gate. The stone walls were around 13ft tall with watchtowers that were even taller. The gates had been closed because the people of Jericho knew Gods people were coming to take their city and they were scared.
God commanded Joshua to send 7 priests blowing rams horns, the Ark of the Covenant and all the fighting men to march around the city of Jericho one time each day for 6 days. Probably not what they had prepared for when they were told it was time to go to battle. Marching and blowing horns was a atypical way to fight but they were obedient and did as God commanded. On the 7th day they did the same thing but this time as they finished their lap all the men shouted and THE WALLS FELL. They were able to rush in and destroy everything as God commanded. They spared one woman and her family for hiding the spies they had sent earlier.
I can only imagine the thoughts that went through these Men’s minds as the 13 ft high stone walls collapsed at their feet while they were shouting. Were they expecting that? Was their a bit of a shocked lag before they rushed in to overthrow the city?
Because the city of Jericho was the very first battle for the Israelites and one of many cities that were delivered into their hands I think we can learn a thing of two from it.
Lets look at our own lives and identify our Jericho’s. A Jericho in our own lives can be anything that God has promised you.
Maybe you have been in the wilderness wondering around waiting for God to do what he said he would do. You have been waiting for the Holy Spirit to deliver something into your hands. Lets identify it – is it a relationship? A child? A marriage? A Career opportunity? Maybe your awaiting your healing. What has God promised you? After we identify what our Jericho is lets look at what we can do by looking at what happened to the Israelites.
The Israelites were in the wilderness for 40 years because they were disobedient and lacked faith in God. Are their any areas in your life where you are being disobedient to God? Do you have faith that God will do what he said he would do? I urge you to ask God to search your heart and your life and ask that he start to reveal the ways that maybe your lacking faith or not in alignment to how he has called you to live. God does NOT require perfection. He was fully man and understands that we struggle, we are sinful and that we all have a thorn in our side. No, he is full of grace and mercy and that is why he sent his son Jesus to DIE on the cross so that through our sinfulness we can come humbled at his feet and ask for forgiveness and he is faithful to forgive us. That is not a get out of jail free card. We must try NOT to sin but when we do mess up and fall short he forgives us. So, ask God to reveal those things to you and then repent of them.
Next, we can look at HOW God delivered Jericho into then hands of the Israelites to see that his ways are not our ways. These men were ready and trained for battle, not so much for marching but they were obedient to God and after a week of marching around the city the walls crumbled at their feet. Time and time again in Scripture we see that Gods ways are so much higher than our own, He sees and knows things that we could never possibly understand so when he asks us to do something we need to DO IT even if it doesn’t seem like its getting us anywhere.
Finally, we need to be ready. Ready for things to be delivered into our hands and ready for Gods promise to be fulfilled. He is Faithful. He is our Promise keeper. He is our Shepard the one who wants to keep us safe and out of harms way. I love Matthew 7:9-11 where Jesus says “You parents- if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Of if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.” Now, I don’t think Louis Vuitton bags are raining down from heaven but the point is that when we are in Alignment with God he wants to give us good gifts. That may be the gift of Peace, maybe it is financial prosperity, discernment or even wisdom but I think its important that with whatever God blesses us with that we use it to give him Glory for the all the days of our lives.
Thanks for stopping by the blog today,
Ali
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