Wednesday, January 29, 2020 By Van Houser
The
LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its
king and the valiant warriors. "You shall march around the city, all the
men of war circling the city once. You shall do so for six days. "Also
seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark; then on
the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests
shall blow the trumpets. "It shall be that when they make a long blast
with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people
shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat,
and the people will go up every man straight ahead." Joshua 6:2-5
Following God’s Strange Plans
Before history’s great battles, there have been many inspiring speeches delivered to encourage the soldiers against overwhelming odds. There was the speech made by Henry V to the English troops, before the battle on St. Crispin’s day when he said, “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers?” There was also the inspiring speech given by William Wallace to the Scottish rebels before the battle of Stirling where he said, “Aye, fight and you may die. Run and you may live at least for awhile, but today we must tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they will never take our freedom!” Who can forget that soul-stirring speech given by General George S. Patton, to the 3rd Army as they prepared for Operation Overlord, in which he said, “Every man is scared in his first battle and if he says he isn’t, he’s a liar!! The real hero is the man who fights, even though he is scared.”
Now visualize Joshua gathering his, itching to attack, Generals, Colonels, and Captains to go over the battle strategy and Joshua says, “Okay, guys, tomorrow we’re going to march to Jericho, and then we’re going to march around it in silence, and then come back to camp.” I can just hear one of the trained Generals say, “Excuse me sir, is that all we’re going to do?” Then Joshua says, “Well, no!! Actually, on the seventh day we’re going to walk around Jericho seven times and then we’re going to blow the trumpets and shout!!” Can you imagine their shock!?
Here is what we learn about Joshua. He was willing to obey God no matter that he could not understand His path. The truth is we MUST follow our commander’s orders exactly. We read in scripture that many times God led Israel into battle and gave them combat orders that made no sense to the armies. And each time they won the battle without effort.
How many times in our lives have we faced this? Someone hurts us and Jesus says to love them. Someone strikes us and Jesus says turn the other cheek. That is so opposite what the world says and yet, it works! Love always does! We want to copy what someone else does and God directs us to find our own success using our talents. He knows how to overcome and will support His plan.
The first step in winning the battle is to accept God’s battle plan! Before we ever take a step or begin to act, we must be committed to His course of action and be ready do what He has ordered. The beginning of overcoming on the battlefield is to become an overcomer in our mind believing fully that God’s way leads to victory. As much as they questioned God’s plan, the army of Joshua committed to follow and commanded the people to listen to God.
Scripture
to Claim:
"He shall say to them, 'Hear, O
Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be
fainthearted. Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble before them, for the LORD
your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies,
to save you.' Deuteronomy 20:3-4
