Old Testament Remix: Jericho

Lately, God has been asking me to do things that haven't made a ton of sense. I've prayed; I've even fasted a few times. The answer to my problem was clear. But it really didn't make much sense. I looked at the situation, knew what needed to happen, but I couldn't understand why. I'm still really fuzzy on the details. Why does He lead His children through green light after green light only to abruptly change the traffic signal to a blinking red? I don't know. Though I'm sure that He's cooking up something beautiful, all I can see are a couple of the ingredients, and let's just say that individually, they aren't the most delectable.

But I'm not the only one.

I was reminded that God regularly does this kind of thing. It's all over the Bible. I was in Joshua 6 this morning, and saw one of the best examples. 

Time for Make Believe.

Do you best to picture this scene: 

You've been walking for 40 years in a desert. You've rarely slept in the same place for more than a week, so you're exhausted. You come to the place where you and your entire nation have been promised--a paradise with luxurious food and mostly all things that an Ancient Near East nomad could ever dream to have.

Pause. Reality.

You live in America, and you feel like everyone around you is enjoying the life that you want. Then at some point, your path leads you to a place where you feel like you are about to taste this dream life (fill in whatever sounds most satisfying) for yourself.

Play. Make Believe.

You come to a raging rive that looks impossible to cross. God says to you, "No problem." He stops its flow miles upstream, so you have dry ground to walk on, and your exhausted, dusty, parched nation crosses without incident.

Pause. Reality.

You're getting close. The Lord is opening doors. He overcomes obstacles that you thought were going to ruin everything. But since He made everything, everything is not a problem for Him. You keep walking in faith, and He keeps providing for and protecting you.

Play. Make Believe.

You've crossed this raging river that has a reputation for its muck and turbulence, but Yahweh has handled that problem. It's nothing to Him. You're now on the other side, and you see a city. You thought the river was hard? Here's one of the most prominent cities in the Ancient Near East with literally insurmountable defenses. Between the stacked layers of walls, one estimation puts the cumulative height of the walls at approximately 60 feet. You have no siege engines. You have no way to attack without losing most, if not all, of your soldiers. You thought you had finally arrived. But alas, you were wrong. 10/12 of your wisest spies said that crossing the Jordan and attempting to take Jericho was foolish. And now you're seeing that they were probably right.

Pause. Reality.

You've been walking in faith. You've seen your Father take care of problems that you thought were going to be deadly, but in His faithfulness, He saw you through. But you finally hit a wall that you know you can't overcome. You see your utter helplessness in the situation. In fact, you might even say that you'd wished that God hadn't teased you with the thought of being so close to something so good, only to let you down in such a devastating fashion.

Play. Make Believe. Enter, insanity.

Your fearless leader, Joshua, commands the priests and the soldiers to walk together around this wonder of structural impregnability. Do that same thing again, and again, for six days in a row. Then, on the seventh day, everyone (not just soldiers) must walk around the city not once, not twice, but seven times. Oh, and by the way, the priests that will carry the ark of the covenant are going to need to play their trumpets, loudly, without stopping. The entire time. One more thing, nobody can make any shout, or even make their voices heard until the day that Joshua gives the command (6:10). So basically, the only noise you will hear for six days is that of the trumpets when the priests are marching, then nothing the rest of the time. Don't overspiritualize it. As an Israelite, I doubt that you are thrilled to not make a sound for six days, while a bunch of soldiers and priests walk in circles and blare their horns for six days. Then on the seventh day, you still couldn't make any noises, and you would have to walk around the city a full seven times.

Pause. Reality.

This is kinda how I've felt, but I think the Israelites had it just slightly more difficult than I have it. I'm in the place where I don't understand where God is taking me. There are even specifics in my day-to-day interactions that I don't even know what to say or how to say it; not really one of the most comfortable places I have ever been. So, so far, I'm tracking with Joshua 6. In a very strange way, I can sympathize.

Play. Make Believe.

It's the seventh day. It's been a long week. No talking for anyone (6:10). It's not like you are only having six "no-talking days" with one or two people, but you have six "no-talking days" with every single person there is. Like I said. Long week. The march in circles around this massive city is really quite draining, but it's the final lap. Now you've just finished. Joshua gets up and screams at the top of his lungs:

Shout! God has given you the city! The city and everything in it is under a holy curse and offered up to God.

It was finally time. The trumpets were blown, and as soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city.

Stop. Story's over.

What a joyful day that must have been.

The joyous victory in this way hasn't yet been realized in my life. The Lord hasn't yet led to the place past the walking in circles, from what I've seen (though I could be wrong). I think I'm just starting the first lap. But picture it. The children of Israel are an INCREDIBLE example of faith. I never saw that before I read this morning. Basically, God told His people His plan, and they needed to have faith that He knows what He's commanding; they need to do what He says with the security that He would reward their faithful obedience. And He did. Amazingly so. What continued to stun me was how in Joshua 6:16-19, Joshua is commanding the people to shout and yell and scream on their trumpets as heartily as the Lord gave them strength. The conjunction astonished me:

[Command in blue] “Shout, for the LORD has given you the city. And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the LORD for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the LORD; they shall go into the treasury of the LORD.” So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city.

How glorious! The people of Israel, who I ragged on in only my second blog post, are an example of faith par excellence. They heard a command that outside the power of God would make no sense, and to them, it was a simple matter of obedience. They had full confidence that their God would be faithful, and He was.

I was immensely encouraged to read Joshua say, "Yell your brains out, and blare your trumpets." The next word, "so", shows me that these people, in a much more difficult place than I am, saw the command as a matter of fact. It was logical:

1) God told me to do something that I would never do in my right mind.
2) God is faithful, and He loves me more than I will ever be able to comprehend.
3) Obedience is an easy decision because I see that He is good, and will fulfill all that He promises.

Wow.

I never thought I would hear/see myself say/write this, but I wish I had the faith of the Israelites.

.DSN.