Welcome back to Joshua! Today features the famous and well loved story of Joshua marching around the walls of Jericho causing the walls to fall. This story is a little silly but I think there is a really important message in there for us.
Scripture to Read
Audio Bible
Questions to Consider
What does this teach me about God?
What does this teach me about humanity?
What about the story of Jericho's walls sticks out to me?
- My Thoughts -
Today, the second thing that sticks out to me in Joshua is Jericho's walls. Research has shown that the things that democrats and republicans value most is becoming increasingly different. Democrats value healthcare and education while republicans value national security and the economy the most, with smaller differences aside but assumed. The problem is very little is shared anymore between the two sides which leads to fights that are less of informed debates and more what it looks like when an unstoppable object hits an immovable object. Nothing happens despite the certainty of both sides.
Joshua and Jericho's wall really speak to me here. The usual way someone attacks a fortified city is with ladders and battering rams while the usual defenses are tar and arrows. But, this isn't a usual battle. God has the people take different tactics that enable that immovable object to fall. In other words, as people of God we cannot fall into the same responses and answers of our culture and expect the battle to be won, we must go about it a different way to produce love where otherwise is polarization.
Is there something in your life that is frustrating you? Is there something that you need to accomplish and haven't figured it out? Maybe Jericho's walls is a message to try a new, and even unusual approach to your battle. Often it's there that we find God waiting for us.
Prayer
God, remind me that when I have tried everything on my own and I still haven't succeeded that I can rely on you. I want to be a witness to the world that with God anything is possible. Help me knock the walls of Jericho in my own life. By your grace I lift this prayer to your merciful ear. Amen.