Today I thought I would share an entry from my journal. Straight up with no edits.
Joshua 6:1-5 (NIV) Now Jericho was tightly shut up 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 all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in."
Joshua 6:17-19 (NIV) The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the LORD and must go into his treasury.”
Two thoughts from this chapter to ponder…
God tells Joshua before the battle even starts, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.”
If I am Joshua, I am thinking, "I don’t see it, sir! The walls are impregnable, the people know we are coming and are ready for us and you say see I have delivered them into your hands. Am I missing something?"
But people of God must be faith fighters - we fight from a place of victory, not for victory. The battle is already won, we are simply walking out that victory.
Think about it in our own lives…
We don’t fight for our freedom - we have been set free and now we fight on His behalf.
We don’t fight for provision - God has already provided, and we are now by faith walking into that provision.
Jesus has defeated every spiritual force of evil so we don’t need to fight for victory, we simply walk out our victory.
We act differently when we already have something than when we are fighting to get something. There is a confidence that it is already ours. Lord let me live in that kind of space - You have already given us the victory.
Second thought…
Devoted to the Lord. According to what God tells His people, a thing that is devoted to the Lord carries the understanding that it is to be used solely for the purposes of God. This city was the first fruit of all the cities that the Israelites would conquer, and God said that it was to be given back to Him. If they didn’t do that, they would bring about destruction on themselves (as we will soon see). I wonder how many of us are bringing about destruction on ourselves because of our disobedience to devoting the first fruits to God? Don’t use it for anything else, it is His and to be given exclusively to Him.
OK, I have one more thought.
People get bent out of shape because God said destroy everyone in the city, but actually, this gives us a good glimpse into the bigger picture of God. Rahab was spared because she believed in the God of Israel and chose to serve Him instead of the gods of Jericho. For a while leading up to the destruction of Jericho, God had given the people of Jericho a chance to choose Him instead of their gods. They had heard of the God of Israel, but they did not choose to serve Him, so they were destroyed. God always gives people a chance to turn to Him - but as we are reminded in the NT, we must come to Him, confess our sins, and choose to surrender to Him. He presents us with choices and consequences - God does not destroy, we choose and experience the consequences of those choices.
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