Day 61 or March 2. Believe and act now.
Our thoughts today come from Joshua chapter 6 verse 20. When the trumpet sounded, the
army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed,
so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city.
That's the big picture surrounding this verse. It's rather sad to learn that the Israelites
fell away big time as they wandered in the wilderness. They neglected the very act that
made them Jewish—circumcision. Now Joshua is bringing this sign back into the nation.
Rahab, as promised by the spies, was rescued along with all her family when the city of
Jericho was taken after the Israelites marched around the city walls thirteen times, once
a day for six days, and then seven times on the seventh day.
A great shout was all that was needed for the walls to fall. No one touched them. It
was as if God just blew them over. However, this wonderful experience that followed their
obedience to God was really dented when they went on to the city of Ai, and were unexpectedly
soundly beaten. There was still much to learn as far as trusting God was concerned.
Now our action step. One of the greatest accounts in the Bible is that of the Battle of Jericho.
Of course it was a great miracle that some have tried to explain away as being the result
of a local earthquake. This argument is missing the point. It wasn't the walls falling,
but when they fell, it was miraculous. On top of that, it's worth remembering that
the main reason for not entering the Promised Land forty years earlier is found in Numbers
chapter thirteen verse twenty-eight, which reminds us, the people living there are powerful,
and their towns are large and fortified. That's why God told them to leave the walls
to Him, just march around and then shout. This strategy worked, but it could have worked
forty years earlier. The Israelites could have saved a whole generation from wilderness
wandering if only they had trusted God. Don't you make the same mistake?