Impact - Day 26

Day 26 – Circling

Joshua 6:1-3  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. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days.

Maybe you have felt the dissonance of claiming the promises of an almighty God while experiencing persistent, unending problems. Your health fails, your child is bullied, or your finances won’t stretch far enough. Someone you love may face the challenge while you watch, pray, and agonize. On good days, you claim God’s word and recite His promises. On bad ones, your footsteps seem to lead nowhere. There is no progress. You are just circling.

As Joshua leads the people, there is a looming, unavoidable problem: Jericho. The city's inhabitants have heard the rumors of Israel, including their miraculous crossing of the Jordan. They sense an attack, but their superpower is fortified city walls within which they have everything they need. They close the gates, bar the doors, and live comfortable, impenetrable lives.

Notice the words of our passage, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands…” Really? It certainly doesn’t seem like it. But remember what God promised Joshua at the beginning, “Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you…” (Joshua 1:3). One of the most complex realities of our spiritual journey is to grapple with the time lapse between what God has given and when we fully experience it. Sometimes, the lag is from our lack of faith. Sometimes, God is teaching us important lessons. Yet, other times, the delay is simply beyond understanding.

The Israelites had a history of doubt that led to grumbling, complaining, and falling back from the future God intended. They were used to circling needlessly in a desert of faithlessness. This time, the circling is different. Instead of marching around the city muttering about their problems, they are following Joshua’s instructions:

“Do not shout; do not even talk,” Joshua commanded. “Not a single word from any of you until I tell you to shout. Then shout!” (Joshua 6:10)

For six days, the Children of Israel circled the city in silence, claiming God's promise and attempting to see what God had already given them. Each day, they returned to camp in silence, resisting the habit of reciting their problems to one another. By the seventh day and the seventh trip around Jericho, the people were not circling their problems. The Hebrew community spent that week circling God's promise.

This is the challenge for you and me. There are ample opportunities during the delayed gratification of God's work for us to grow discouraged, lose focus, and become bitter. We struggle to understand and recount our problems to one another. But make no mistake, there is power in the circle. Our choice is between circling our difficulties, obstacles, and problems or circling around the promises God has given us.

1. How positive are you on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 = entirely negative; 10 = absolutely positive)? How does that impact your life?
2. What is a promise you have made? Who did you make it to? How has it gone?
3. What is a struggle you are currently experiencing? What promise can you find in scripture that relates to that struggle?