And the walls come down

Now the gates of Jericho were tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites. No one was allowed to go out or in. But the Lord said to Joshua, “I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its strong warriors. You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days. Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the town seven times, with the priests blowing the horns. When you hear the priests give one long blast on the rams’ horns, have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the town will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the town.” (Joshua 6:1-5)

It is time we come to realize the more we look for God to work in conventional ways in our lives, the more he will surprise us by using unconventional means to accomplish his plans and purposes. The walls may be tightly shut, but you can rest assured that God is no match for those walls. The enemy may be 'shut in' for a bit, but that won't last long. The more we trust God with his plan, the greater our reward will be.

Do you imagine the warriors that had specialized training to send arrows flying and scale tall walls of defense were maybe thinking their commander was just a little off his rocker when he told them they would simply march around the walls for six days and on the seventh God would do something special? I'd want to second-guess that plan! Horns blazing, troops marching, the 'battle' had begun. God's plan was unconventional - man's part was to simply obey.

This is the way it is with God's plans for our lives - there may be something 'unconventional' God asks us to do, and our part is simply to obey. We may not fully appreciate what God is doing, but we can trust that when he tells us to move, we should move. Did the marching bring down the walls? No. Did the horn blowing bring them down? No. Did the huge shouts from the people cause them to tumble? No. What did bring them down was the unquestioning faith to do ALL that God asked!

There will always be something 'out there' that God asks us to do. Our response to his request to do what seems impossible in the natural sense doesn't unlock some mystical power - it just opens the door for God to do what he has already set out to do. God might ask us to go places we have never been, do things we have never done, or use 'means' we would never consider feasible in the circumstances. When he does - act upon it. You never know what walls may fall in your own life when you do. Just sayin!