Hebrews 11:30
“By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.”
Moses’ successor was a man named Joshua. He was one of the two spies who returned from their expedition to spy out the land 40 years ago and believed that God would give them that land. Of course we know that the children of Israel listened to the other 10 who lacked the faith to trust God and caused them to wander in the wilderness until their generation was no more. Now they were gone and Joshua is the leader of these people as he led them over Jordan to possess the land that God had promised them. The first obstacle they came to in the land was the city of Jericho.
Now the faith that he had displayed so many years ago was being put to the test. God was going to give them this victory, but it would not be through their military might or cunning. We read in the book of Joshua that God simply told His people to march around the walls of the city. God used Jericho as an object lesson to Israel of His power. He did not want them placing their trust in their weapons or armies or even in their own wisdom. He wants His people to place their trust completely in Him. By defeating their enemy in a way that there is no doubt it was God doing it, He was sending a clear message to Israel and the inhabitants of the land that all of their strength and resources were nothing when compared to the God of all creation!
Psalm 20:7 says, “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of LORD our God.” We have the tendency to look to our own strength, our own wisdom, our own finances, our own ways when we are faced with trials. Usually this lasts until our resources run out and we find ourselves on the ground, looking up and only then we remember who our God is as we cry out to him. Rather, we should seek Him first! You see, the promised land is a picture of the victorious Christian life and as we strive for this we will have battles, there will be obstacles. What we need to learn to do as the people of God is to learn to depend on Him for the victory! When we do that, He is the one that gets the praise and the glory as we use these testimonies of Victory to point others to Him!
Today as we ReFocus our hearts and minds on Christ, let us learn to seek Him first; To place our trust only in Him. And when those obstacles come and we cry out to God, always remember that these are opportunities to point others to our Lord as we watch Him do the amazing!