Our Wall, Our Jericho
I was listening to a song the other day called Take Courage by Kristene DiMarco and for those who know me, it doesn’t come to a surprise that I opened up with a song title. Being a musician and worship leader, music has become a second language to me. This song began to stir my heart around the idea of being in the waiting.
Now the first verse of the song begins with “Slow down, take time, breathe in He said, He’ll reveal what’s to come.” The entirety of this verse talks about a season of stillness, but if we take the last line “He’ll reveal what’s to come” and put it into the chorus which leads into “He’s in the waiting.” …. We get, “in the waiting… God will reveal what is to come.” God will reveal his promise to us. We see this time and time again in the Bible with Moses, Abraham, Joseph, David, and Joshua. God promised each one of these men something, but yet they went through a period of waiting, and preparation. However, in that time of waiting they were preparing inwardly AND outwardly for the promise God had for them. Just because we are in this waiting season doesn’t mean God isn’t working because he is ALWAYS working in the waiting.
I want to focus on Joshua today because I think we can all relate to Joshua and his army and the fall of Jericho. Starting in chapter 6 of Joshua.
Joshua 6 “Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. NO one went out and no one came in. Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”
I could imagine Joshua while God was speaking to him saying to himself, “we are really going to be walking around this gigantic wall every day and on the seventh day after walking and shouting once, it’s just going to fall down?” Can you imagine the faces of Joshua’s army when Joshua told them that God was going to deliver Jericho in their hands after seven days of faithfully walking and preparing for the promise God had given them? I bet they were thinking something along the lines of “Joshua, you are making us walk around a wall in 100-degree heat, and in an instant, it’s going to fall down and we are able to then walk in?” Remember in chapter 6 – no one went into Jericho and no one came out. Jericho’s walls were so high and so thick that it took time to scale the wall like Joshua’s spies did before they met Rahab, but imagine an entire army scaling the wall, pretty impossible without being discovered.
But here is the thing – right now we are walking around our Jericho. We are walking around and around preparing for the promises that God has for us beyond this wall, beyond this pandemic world that we are living in. We have the same chance as Joshua’s army to walk around our wall in the waiting and while we are walking, we are preparing for what is to come inwardly and outwardly. I can tell you friend, it’s not going to be easy, but God’s timing is ALWAYS perfect, but NEVER easy. We can become discouraged in our walk around Jericho, we could be walking for months and months before God reveals his promise to us, before the wall comes down.
There is Hope though because this wall that is separating us from Jericho, from entering the world was already crushed when Christ died on the cross, he has already overcome, but in His timing will he reveal the promises. However, we can hold onto a promise already given to us and that is: NOTHING can separate us from the love of God.
Romans 8:38 – 39 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels or demons, neither the present nor the future, nor power, nor anything in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God.”
Friends!!! This wall we are walking around is NOT separating us from the love of God. It is allowing us to wait in that love, to prepare in that love - that we can hold true to when that wall does come crashing down we are able to enter into Jericho. We are going to be able to stand firm in faith and patient in affliction! We will be able to share this love and hope even MORE than what we could virtually or before we entered into this waiting phase. Can you imagine all God is going to do through this waiting period, and season of stillness? Whatever it is, it is going to be AMAZING!!!!
As we are walking around our wall and we are in the waiting we are able to take advantage of this time in preparing ourselves inwardly and outwardly for what God has for us beyond this pandemic world. We are able to prepare through being in the word, spending intentional time with Him, and Romans 12 gives us an outline of this preparation.
Romans 12:12 “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.”
You are not alone in walking around your Jericho. Together we walk, together we encourage each other, and prepare together for the promise God has for us beyond. I am anticipating the day where God’s promise is revealed and it will be a glorious day, but until then “slow down, take time, breathe in, God will reveal what is to come.” Be present in the waiting!
Friend, I pray you trust in God’s goodness today and his faithfulness tomorrow because we are walking around this wall together. In anticipation, we wait for the promises to come because He is good all the time… and all the time… HE IS GOOD!
I encourage you to take time this week, to be still with God. Listen to his voice in the preparation He has for you. What is He telling you to focus your extra time on? Is there a word of phrase tugging at your heart that you need to explore? Whatever it is, I hope you slow down and take time to breathe in the presence and beauty of who God is. Be refreshed by sipping the Living Water Jesus is wanting to give you today!
