Wonder, Walls,

Joshua: Courage over Fear • Sermon • Submitted a year ago

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Sometimes God’s plans just don’t make sense to us

Let’s be honest, there had to be some skeptics walking around the walls of Jericho that day. There is no way that everyone believed that this plan was going to work. Sure, they had seen some miracles- some just 2 chapters ago. But marching and shouting- that is not a very sound military strategy.

These walls were HUGE. Most estimates are they were over 13 feet tall and 4 feet thick. These walls were thought to be impenetrable. And this is God’s plan? Not to ram them, not to scale them, not to go through them- but to march around them? That really doesn’t make sense.

Well friends, it does not take any faith to trust in what makes sense. In faith, trusting in what makes sense is actually the exact opposite of faith.

And if you have walked with God for long enough you know, that many times God’s plans do not make sense to us. The Bible is full of stories and accounts of what happens when we choose to trust God, even when it does not make sense. When we choose to have faith.

A little girl was walking through the hallway of her home and she came to the place where they had a cellar door, It was one of those trapdoors on hinges, and it was open. She looked down into the darkness, heard a noise down there, and said, “Who’s down there?” And her daddy said, “It’s me, Daddy.” She replied, “Well, I want to come down there with you.” He answered, “Well, I’ve already taken the ladder away, but if you’ll jump, I’ll catch you.”

Now this was a little girl, and she thought, Jump down into that hole? You see, here father could see her because she was in the light, but she could not see him because he was down there in the darkness, and she said, “But, Daddy, I can’t see you.”

“Now, Honey, wait a minute. I want to ask you a question. Do you believe I’m down here?” “Sure, I believe you’re down there. I’m talking with you.” “Do you believe I’m strong enough to catch you?” “I believe you’re strong enough to catch me.” “Ok,” he said, “do you believe that I love you?” “Yes, Daddy, I believe you love me.” He asked, “Have I ever told you a lie?” “No, you’ve never told me a lie.” “Ok, you know I’m here, and I love you, and I would never lie to you. Now jump.”

And she said, “Ok, Daddy, here I come.” She stepped off into that black hole, and her Daddy caught her, gave her a hug, and sat her down.

Believe it or not, that’s what faith is. “Whom having not seen, we love.” We know God is there. He speaks to us down inside. We recognize He cannot lie We believe in His strength, and we know He loves us. So, when He says “go,” we go. When He says “jump”, we jump. When He says “leap”, we leap.

Faith. All it is is taking God at His Word.

That is the choice Israel had to make that day, and it is the choice we must make.

What did they do? They marched… For 7 days they marched. And on the seventh day… crumble.

This has always been one of the coolest moments in Israel’s history to me. The battle of Jericho. Never before, and never since this incident has a battle been won in such an unconventional way. God breaks down the walls of the city, allowing them to take the city.

I wonder how things changed each day. Did it get easier to march around Jericho each day? Did it get harder? I wonder if there was some of both. But can I tell you, I think it was completely intentional that God asked them to do this for seven days. Because, let’s face it, it takes a different kind of faith to walk something out with no instant result. We love those miracles when we pray and something instantly changes. But sometimes that is just not the case. Many times the miracle, the result, the healing takes time and we need to walk it out in faith that something is coming, even if we do not see it that very moment.

It was a cry of prayer

They cried in prayer out of their need for God to act. Remember, this entire situation was God’s idea, and it was God’s promise to deliver them. In 6:2 God said to Joshua And the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor.” God had promised them that they would see victory and they were keenly aware that they were completely dependent on God in that moment.

Have you been there? A cry of prayer- an admission of your inability to fix what you are looking at? Have you been in a place were you know that your only hope is God?

It is okay to cry out in prayer. In fact, it is good to cry out in prayer! When we cry out in prayer God responds in action.

It was a cry of obedience

But this was also a cry of obedience . Remember God’s directions? V5 And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.”

Belief requires action. And that action is obedience.

Obedience is more than understanding…

When God’s will and our Obedience line up- victory comes.

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”