Joshua: A Faith That Conquers

Jericho

Jericho wasn't just any city. It was a fortress.

Here’s what it looks like today.

But Archaeological evidence shows it had a double wall system.

The outer wall was about 6 feet thick and 20 feet high. Behind that was a 12-15 foot high embankment with another wall on top, reaching as high as 46 feet total.

This was a city built to withstand any attack. From a military standpoint, it seemed impenetrable.

Now, I want you to picture this with me. Here's Joshua, standing at the edge of the Promised Land, staring at the fortified city of Jericho. The walls are so high they might as well touch the sky. The gates are sealed tight. It's a fortress that screams, "Don't even try it!"

But here's the kicker - God had already told Joshua, if you’ll read with me in Joshua 6:1-2:

“Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. 2 And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor.”

- Joshua 6:1-2 (ESV)

Now notice that phrase, “I have given Jericho into your hand” - past tense.

“Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. 2 And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor.”

- Joshua 6:1-2 (ESV, emphasis added)

Done deal. God's saying, "Joshua, my man, this city is already yours. You just need to go get it." Sound familiar? How many times has God promised us victory, but we're too busy staring at the walls to believe it? When we're faced with obstacles this big, it's like standing at the base of a skyscraper - we can't see over it, we can't see around it. All we can see is the enormous problem in front of us. But God sees the whole picture, and today we're going to dig into this story and uncover five powerful lessons about having a faith that conquers.

1. Faith Trusts God's Plan, Not Our Own

The first lesson to note is this: “Faith Trusts God’s Plan, Not Our Own.” Now, if you were Joshua, what would your battle plan look like? Battering rams? Siege towers? A good old-fashioned assault? Maybe you’d call for the best military strategists, gather intelligence on Jericho’s weak points, or try to negotiate a surrender.

But God's plan?

“Go out there and walk around it.”

“What?”

“Yep – march. Around it. Once a day. For the next six days.”

“What?”

“But on the seventh day, you’re going to march around it seven times.”

“What?”

“Hang on I’m not finished –

Then you’re going to blow trumpets and shout…That’s it. Go ahead. Go tell your soldiers. Bye bye!”

No intricate strategies, no siege engines, no traditional warfare tactics at all. No, God’s plan must have seemed insane when compared to what we would have done. I can just imagine Joshua telling his soldiers:

“3 You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. 4 Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5 And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.”

- Joshua 6:2-5 (ESV)

Can you imagine the looks on the soldiers' faces when Joshua laid out this plan? They must have thought he'd lost his marbles! Which if someone ever tells you you’ve lost your marbles, just take it as a compliment because that means that at least they thought you had marbles to begin with. But I can almost hear the whispers in the camp.

“Has Joshua gone insane? We’re going to be a laughingstock! We’re going to walk around the city for a week and then shout. Okay.”

But here's the thing - faith isn't about understanding every detail of God's plan. It's about trusting that His plan is better than ours. But that's exactly what faith does - it trusts God even when His methods seem unconventional, or even when it challenges our expectations.

You know, I'm reminded of a time after leaving the software development company I was working at. It was 2017. Cassy was working as a pharmacy technician at Walgreens and we were living in Lubbock, Texas. I had started doing freelance graphic design, photography, videography, motion graphics, and stuff like that. But all the while I felt like I needed to be in the church. So – while my wife worked every day – I stayed home, and started work on building a portfolio. Project after project, bumper videos, branding, series graphics, video/photo projects – all for no real client. Each project bringing in a grand total of exactly $0. I didn’t knock it out overnight either, it took some time. I didn’t necessarily even have a specific goal in mind – just this thought that I couldn’t get out of my head of “I need to make a portfolio that I can show to churches.”