Obedience Brings Victory
Backgrounder to Joshua 6-8:
Joshua employs a textbook
strategy for military victory:
Divide and conquer. He attacks
the middle of the country first,
dividing the enemy forces in half,
before mopping up resistance
among the isolated troops in the
south and north. His stunning
victory at Jericho shows the
importance of following God’s
direction down to the smallest
detail, no matter how trivial
they seem to be, proving
Obedience Brings Victory.
Lord, we’ll Obey Your Instructions:
The Lord said to Joshua:
I have given You Jericho, its
king and all its strong warriors.
Your entire army is to march around
the city 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 city seven times,
with the priests blowing the horns.
When you hear the priests give
one long blast on the horns, have
all the people give a mighty shout.
Then the walls of the city will
collapse & the people can charge
straight into the city (Jos 6:2-5).
Lord, when You told Joshua:
“I Have Given You Jericho”.
It indicated that it was a done deal.
Finished work. Just waiting for
the people’s obedience to bring
that promise to their experience.
The writer of Hebrews tells the
story in a few well chosen words:
It was by faith that the people
of Israel marched around Jericho
for seven days, and the walls
came crashing down (Heb 11:30).
When the people obeyed Lord’s
commands and matched around
Jericho for 7 days, the walls fell.
Lord, according to scripture, when
Your promise comes into contact
with our faith-filled obedience,
an explosion of power results:
Walls fall & obstacles disappear.
The only way our Jericho will
stand is if we believe our limited
perception instead of God’s Word,
thereby missing the opportunity
to see God’s power in action.
Lord,Help us to remember when
You God call us to battle, You
have already won the victory.
Teach us O Lord to walk by faith
and not by sight. We believe you,
not our own perceptions and
interpretations. And we receive by
faith Your victory in our situation.
In Jesus’ mighty name, Amen.