2 And the LORD said to Joshua: “See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.
3 “You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days.
4 “And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.
Joshua 6:2-4, NKJV.
In the passage above, God was giving General Joshua the strategy for taking the fortified city of Jericho: seven priests with seven trumpets marching with armed soldiers for seven days around the city, making seven rounds on the seventh day.
Suppose there had been only six priests available for the assignment? Suppose there had been eight priests, all of them insisting that they had to be part of the Special Team of trumpeters, especially on the final day? Suppose Joshua had been forced to please everyone, and had allowed all eight or ten ‘volunteers’ on that prophetic march? Suppose, after the fifth day, everyone had become so tired that none could continue the march on the sixth day, or only four priests had shown up? Surely, God would have understood their human frailty and given them the city all the same … or don’t you think so?
If Jericho was already “given,” as God said to Joshua, why did he still have to go through those rigours for those many days? Are there times we miss what Heaven considers already “given,” because of a detail missed? What did God know about Jericho that the marchers did not? What did He know about the city that He did not tell even Pastor Joshua? Why does God sometimes give instructions without explanations? Why does God get particular (even legalistic) about details sometimes?
I have wondered what might have happened if any of those details had been missed or amended, ostensibly to ‘accommodate’ ‘understandable human conditions’? Would they still have had the breakthrough they had, the way and the time they did? Why do some Jerichos persistently defy the loud and long blasts of so many priests for so many days? I have been wondering, and you probably have an answer, what if there had been only six priests … or a mighty army of one million priests … screaming themselves hoarse at adamant fat walls, even when God said the land is already “given”?
From The Preacher’s diary,
October 16, 2017.
Jericho would never have been if prophetic requirements were not adhered to strictly
Our ways are not His ways and our thoughts are not His thoughts (Isa.55:8). The Lord wants us to build according to His pattern (1 Cor.3:10-15).
Total obedience to the instructions of Elohim our Father is the key. Moses could not enter the promise land because he did not follow Elohim’s pattern of instructions.
To succeed in ministry and what the Lord has committed to your trust is to build according to His pattern and will.
I’ve never seen this scripture in this light. God help to be completely obedient to you in every sense🙏
God needs absolute obedience in adherence to specific instruction to bring to pass expected results.
God came after the reproach of Egypt was rolled away. There are things which the uncircumcised cannot achieve. An uncircumcised Abram could father Ishmael, but only a circumcised Abraham could father Isaac. God in the Holy Spirit still performs this circumcision without human hands for us to work and walk with Him (Col.2:11-12).
God in His Sovereign nature always like to be in charge. For a successful journey with God we must trust and obey him. He doesn’t owe us an explanation, knowing that such details will definitely be counter productive. Of course, it is not for us to edit HIS instructions no matter how unappealing they may appear to the cerebral mind. The Wisdom of God is always proven by undeniable results that always align with HIS promises. Blessed is the man ‘foolish’ and ‘childlike’ enough to absolutely obey God’s commands.
May the Lord continue to give @thepreacherdiary insight in His Word, for impact in HIS Body. 🙏
Partial obedience is not obedience.
At times what the LORD is interested in is our total obedience that equals our total trust in Him.
At the end of the day, Abraham did not kill Isaac but GOD saw his heart of obedience and provided a ram for the sacrifice.
FATHER, please grant us grace to obey every detail of your instruction in JESUS mighty name.
Amen.
And probably, the reason so many of us “ circle the mountain “ TOO LONG !. May our EVER FAITHFUL AND MERCIFUL AND COMPASSIONATE GOD help us STILL. God bless you prof for allowing THE LORD to continue to use you to edify HIS church. The Lord is blessing me through you
Sometimes I wonder too, why God often gives instructions without details. But, I’ve learnt that He is more interested in our absolute obedience than in our curiosity.
So help us, Lord!
More oil for The Preacher.
God and His ways are mysteries. His ways do not align with logic .