INTRODUCTION — THE GAME
There’s a sound most of us can recognize instantly — even if it has been decades since we heard it. A ding… a buzz… a wooden mallet striking rubber. And somewhere deep inside the memory, a child’s frustration mixed with sudden triumph.
Whack-A-Mole.
You remember the game. A carnival booth. A brightly painted cabinet. Holes everywhere. Moles popping up at random. And the entire thrill — and chaos — of the game is that no matter how many times you land a perfect hit… another mole pops up somewhere else.
You finally hit the one on the left… and suddenly another pops up on the right.
You strike the one directly in front of you… only to find two popping up behind it.
Your focus is everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
Your success lasts seconds.
And your failures linger longer than you wish to admit.
And whether we like it or not, most believers understand the game a little too well.
Because some battles don’t stay in the past.
Some wounds don’t stay where they were buried.
Some habits you thought were dead… still twitch.
Some fears you thought you conquered… rise again.
Some attitudes you thought God healed… show up when life gets loud.
Some sins you thought you outgrew… knock on your door again.
Brothers and sisters, today’s message is for anyone who has ever felt like they’re living a Whack-A-Mole Christianity — where every step forward seems to wake something else buried deep inside.
And that is exactly where Joshua 5 meets us.
Before Jericho falls, before trumpets blow, before walls crumble, before victory appears on the horizon… God stops Israel in their tracks and deals with the things inside them that keep popping up again and again.
Joshua 5 is a chapter of interruptions.
God interrupts momentum.
God interrupts excitement.
God interrupts progress.
God interrupts expectation.
God interrupts the rush toward Jericho.
Why?
Because God never rushes you into public victory before He addresses private vulnerability.
And some of us are praying, “Lord, bring down my Jericho,”
while the Lord is whispering,
“Child, before I bring down the walls around you, I must deal with the things that keep rising inside you.”
That is Joshua 5.
That is Whack-A-Mole.
And that is where God does His deepest work.
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THE JORDAN IS BEHIND THEM — BUT EGYPT IS NOT
Israel has just walked through a miracle. The waters of the Jordan River stood at attention. The priests carried the ark into the torrent, and the waters fled backward. The entire nation crossed on dry ground. Twelve stones were lifted and carried into the riverbed. Twelve stones were raised on the bank as a memorial. The last man stepped out, and the waters roared back into place.
A new life.
A new land.
A new season.
A new promise.
You would expect God to say:
“Joshua, take Jericho while the fear of the Lord still chills their bones!”
or
“Strike now while the hearts of the Canaanites melt in terror!”
But instead, God says something that feels almost absurd:
“Stop. And deal with the old wounds you carried across the river.”
Because the river may be behind them…
…but Egypt is still inside them.
And what good is taking Jericho if you still belong to yesterday?
What good is victory if the past still defines you?
What good is forward movement if backward thinking keeps popping up?
Whack-A-Mole.
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POINT 1 — UNCIRCUMCISED HEARTS: THE MOLE OF UNFINISHED OBEDIENCE
Joshua 5 begins with a shock.
> “At that time the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again.’”. — Joshua 5:2
Everything about the timing feels wrong.
Why would God command surgery…
in enemy territory…
in full view of Canaanite kings…
with Jericho right in front of them…
when they need all their strength to fight?
Because sometimes God must wound you so He can heal you.
Not harm you.
Heal you.
Because the greatest danger Israel faced was not the walls of Jericho…
…it was the wilderness still inside them.
The text tells us that the entire generation born in the wilderness had never been circumcised.
Forty years of wandering…
Forty years of manna…
Forty years of cloud by day and fire by night…
Forty years of God’s presence visible and near…
But the one act that marked their covenant identity
—the one act God commanded Abraham as the sign of belonging—
had been neglected.
Forty years of religious activity…
And they still carried unfinished obedience.
Brothers and sisters, that mole pops up in our lives too.
We pray.
We worship.
We serve.
We sing.
We attend.
We give.
We study.
We believe.
But somewhere… something God asked us to do years ago… still sits unfinished.
A call we didn’t answer.
A habit we never surrendered.
A wound we refused to forgive.
A conversation we were supposed to have.
A sin we never confessed.
A promise we made but didn’t follow through.
A step of faith we postponed until “later.”
And every time God tries to move us forward…
…that unfinished obedience pops its head up like a mole from underground.
We swing at it…
We try to bury it…
We pretend it’s gone…
But it rises again.
Joshua 5 teaches us that God will not lead us into Jericho victories until He deals with the moles in our hearts that sabotage us from the inside.
He loves us too much to leave us halfway healed.
He loves us too much to let us live on partial obedience.
He loves us too much to let us carry wilderness thinking into promised-land living.
So God stops Israel.
Not to punish.
But to prepare.
Not to delay victory.
But to deepen identity.
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POINT 2 — “GILGAL”: GOD ROLLS THE OLD YOU AWAY
After the painful obedience comes a beautiful promise.
> “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.”. — Joshua 5:9
And they named the place Gilgal, which means “rolling.”
What is God rolling away?
Egypt.
Not the geography — the shame.
Not the nation — the identity.
Not the slavery — the mindset.
Egypt was more than a place.
Egypt was a wound.
Egypt was a memory.
Egypt was a mark on the soul.
They were out of Egypt…
…but Egypt was still in them.
God had parted the Red Sea…
…but the Red Sea had not parted them from their past.
But on this day, through obedience, God says:
“The things that once defined you no longer name you.”
“The shame that once marked you no longer follows you.”
“The chains that clung to you no longer hold you.”
This is the moment God ends Whack-A-Mole identity.
Because identity is the deepest mole of all.
You can’t fight Jericho while believing you're still a slave.
You can’t conquer giants with a grasshopper spirit.
You can’t walk in freedom while still carrying the labels of yesterday.
You can’t step into promise while dragging the identity of bondage.
Some of us need a Gilgal today.
A place where God rolls away:
the shame you carried for years
the voice that told you you’re not enough
the old identity that screams louder than truth
the wounds you inherited
the failures that haunt you
the sins you repented of but still feel unworthy over
Gilgal is where God whispers:
“Child, this is no longer who you are.”
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POINT 3 — MANNA STOPS: THE MOLE OF COMFORT-DEPENDENCE
Then something surprising happens.
> “The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land.”. — Joshua 5:12
Stopped.
Gone.
For 40 years they depended on manna —
like a newborn depends on milk,
like a child depends on a parent’s hand,
like a wanderer depends on shade.
But now…
God ends the manna.
Why?
Not to starve them.
But to grow them.
Manna was for wandering.
Produce is for planting.
Milk is for infancy.
Bread is for maturity.
God is saying:
“You cannot live in the Promised Land
with wilderness habits.”
Some believers want the blessing of maturity
with the habits of infancy.
Some want victory
without responsibility.
Some want fruit
without planting.
Some want God to do everything
when God is trying to grow them into someone who can stand strong.
And the truth is:
Sometimes God must remove what you depend on
so you can depend on Him deeper.
Sometimes God closes old doors
because they were keeping you from walking through new ones.
Sometimes God stops manna
so you can taste the produce of growth.
And when comfort becomes your crutch…
that mole pops up again and again.
Until God says,
“No more. It’s time to grow into the promise.”
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POINT 4 — THE COMMANDER OF THE LORD’S ARMY: THE MOLE OF CONTROL
As chapter 5 closes, Joshua encounters a mysterious figure.
A man with a drawn sword.
Standing in the gap.
Blocking his vision.
Interrupting his plan.
And Joshua asks the question all of us ask:
> “Are You for us or for our enemies?”. — Joshua 5:13
It’s the wrong question.
It reveals the final mole in Joshua’s heart:
the desire to control God rather than submit to Him.
And the Commander responds with a word that slices the moment in half:
> “No.”. — Joshua 5:14
Not “yes.”
Not “no.”
Just… “No.”
He refuses the categories.
He refuses the tribalism.
He refuses the assumption that God is here to take sides.
He refuses the controlling spirit hidden inside Joshua’s question.
Then He declares:
“I have come as Commander of the Lord’s Army.”
In other words:
“I didn’t come to take your side.
I came to take charge.”
Joshua collapses in worship.
Falls to the ground.
Throws away the mallet.
Stops the Whack-A-Mole game.
Removes his sandals.
Surrenders fully on holy ground.
And only then…
only in that posture of surrender…
can Jericho fall.
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THE WORK GOD DOES IN YOU BEFORE THE WORK GOD DOES THROUGH YOU
Before Joshua ever lifts a sword, before the priests lift a trumpet, before Israel lifts a shout…
God lifts a scalpel.
Because spiritual battles are not won by skilled hands but by surrendered hearts.
We often pray:
“God, change my situation.”
“God, change my circumstances.”
“God, change the people around me.”
But the prayer God answers first is:
“God, change me.”
Israel wanted Jericho to fall.
God wanted Israel to kneel.
They wanted victory.
God wanted surrender.
They wanted movement.
God wanted maturity.
They wanted a quick win.
God wanted a deep transformation.
Because God is never in a hurry to change what is around you
until He has changed what is rising up inside you.
So He deals with the moles —
the unfinished obedience,
the identity confusion,
the comfort-dependence,
the control issues —
not to slow them down,
but to prepare them for everything ahead.
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THE MOLE OF MEMORY
There is a moment in Joshua 5 where God says:
> “All the people who came out of Egypt had died…
but all the people born in the wilderness had not been circumcised.”. — Joshua 5:4–5
It sounds like a historical footnote, but it is a spiritual revelation.
The people who remembered Egypt
died before reaching the promise.
But the people who inherited their memory
carried their wounds into the future.
Memory is powerful.
So powerful that it can chain generations.
So powerful that it can echo into decisions decades later.
So powerful that you can live in the Promised Land
but think like a prisoner.
And that mole pops up more often than we admit.
A memory of rejection.
A memory of disappointment.
A memory of failure.
A memory of shame.
A memory of trauma.
A memory of sin.
A memory of being unloved, unseen, unvalued.
You think you buried it.
But it resurfaces.
In your reactions.
In your defenses.
In your silence.
In your fears.
In your harshness.
In the way you overcompensate.
In the way you avoid.
Memory becomes a mole.
And Joshua 5 shows us that God’s healing often begins with the memories we refused to touch.
God doesn’t go around your memories.
He goes straight into them.
Straight through them.
Straight to the root.
Because if the past is not confronted,
it will be repeated.
If the memory is not healed,
the wound will be reopened.
If the shame is not rolled away,
you will always feel unworthy of the land God is giving you.
And brothers and sisters, the Father’s heart is too loving to let His children step into His promises with Egypt whispering in their ears.
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THE MOLE OF TIMING — WHEN GOD INTERRUPTS THE MOMENTUM
Nothing in Joshua 5 feels strategic.
If we had been planning the campaign,
we would have said:
Strike now.
Move fast.
Jericho is terrified.
This is your moment.
Everything in us cries,
“Lord, don’t interrupt my momentum!”
But God does exactly that.
He interrupts.
We dislike divine interruptions because we measure success by movement.
God measures success by formation.
We want progress.
God wants depth.
We want speed.
God wants surrender.
We want arrival.
God wants transformation.
Your greatest spiritual breakthroughs often come disguised as delays.
The sickness that slowed you down…
The setback that humbled you…
The closed door that confused you…
The prolonged prayer with no answer…
The detour you didn’t expect…
The pause that felt like punishment…
The season where nothing moved…
Those weren’t setbacks.
They were sanctuaries.
They weren’t delays.
They were altars.
They weren’t interruptions.
They were invitations.
Because God was doing in the stillness what He could not do in the sprint.
God will stop Israel in front of Jericho
so He can restore Israel inside their own hearts.
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THE MOLE OF SELF-IMPORTANCE
Let’s go back to Joshua’s question to the Commander of the Lord’s Army.
> “Are You for us or for our adversaries?”. — Joshua 5:13
Joshua is sincere.
He’s earnest.
He’s brave.
But he asks the wrong question.
He assumes:
“I’m the general.”
“We’re the heroes.”
“Are You reinforcing our plan?”
“Are You here to help us?”
Joshua still thinks God joins our battles.
But God says:
“Joshua, this is not your war.
You’ve joined Mine.”
God is not the silent partner in our plans.
He is the sovereign leader in His.
And the mole of self-importance
—“God, bless my plan”
—“God, take my side”
—“God, make my agenda work”
must be crushed before spiritual victory can be trusted.
Because God is not interested in partnering with our pride.
He is interested in sanctifying our hearts.
If we enter Jericho with “my plan,”
“my strategy,”
“my way,”
“my victory,”
we become the very thing we are fighting against.
Joshua had to fall before his victory could rise.
He had to worship before he could wage war.
He had to submit before he could succeed.
He had to bow before he could battle.
And some of us have been swinging our spiritual mallets for too long.
Exhausted.
Frustrated.
Trying to force outcomes.
Trying to manage our lives.
Trying to control battles meant for God.
And the Lord stands in front of us saying:
“No. I didn’t come to take your side.
I came to take over your life.”
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THE MOLE OF MISPLACED CONFIDENCE
Israel’s confidence could have easily shifted to:
their crossing of the Jordan
their numbers
their training
their unity
their divine momentum
But God removes their fallback options.
He makes them physically vulnerable through circumcision.
He cuts off their comfort-food manna.
He strips them of illusion.
He removes the safety nets.
He brings them to a posture where the only possible victory
is a victory by His presence.
Some victories are too dangerous for God to give
until we no longer trust in our own strength.
Because if Israel had taken Jericho on their own terms,
they would have believed the walls fell
because they were strong,
or brilliant,
or numerous,
or favored.
So God empties them
so He can fill them.
He weakens them
so He can strengthen them.
He brings them low
so He can lift them high.
He makes them dependent
so He can make them unbreakable.
This is sacred ground.
This is the place where weakness becomes worship.
This is the altar where identity is reshaped.
This is the soil where obedience roots itself deeply.
God is not withholding Jericho.
He is preparing Israel to receive Jericho without losing themselves in the process.
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WHEN THE MALLET WEIGHS A TON
Some of the people in the camp must have felt it.
The disappointment.
The confusion.
The ache.
The discouragement.
They were ready for victory —
they got surgery.
Ready for battle —
they got vulnerability.
Ready for triumph —
they got recovery.
Ready for marching —
they got waiting.
And the mallet must have felt
heavy in their hands.
“Lord, how much more do I have to fight?”
“Lord, why do these issues keep appearing?”
“Lord, why is this mole still popping up after all these years?”
“Lord, why am I dealing with the same heartache again?”
Joshua 5 is a reminder:
When the mallet feels heaviest,
God is closest.
When the battle inside is loudest,
God is working deepest.
When the old wounds reappear,
God is not exposing you to shame —
He is preparing you for victory.
When the moles rise up,
it’s not a sign of spiritual failure.
It’s a sign that God is digging below the surface,
removing the roots that have held you hostage for years.
Joshua 5 is not about punishment.
It is about purification.
Not about delay.
About destiny.
Not about retreat.
About readiness.
God is preparing their hearts
for the kind of miracle that requires
a people who have surrendered every mole,
every memory,
every fear,
every bitter root,
every limiting belief,
every Egypt that whispers behind them.
Because Jericho isn’t fallen by might.
Jericho falls
because God’s people finally stand
in holy surrender.
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THE MOMENT THE MALLET DROPS
When Joshua finally encounters the Commander of the Lord’s Army, it is the climax not of a battle… but of a heart surgery.
Joshua stands on the edge of Jericho.
He is ready for war.
Ready for action.
Ready for strategy.
Ready for leadership.
Ready for the next step.
But God is ready for something else.
God is ready for worship.
For Joshua, this moment is the end of Whack-A-Mole.
The end of striving.
The end of controlling.
The end of managing God.
The end of defining victory on his terms.
The end of carrying the weight alone.
Joshua falls on his face.
Not because he is weak — but because God is strong.
Not because he is defeated — but because God is victorious.
Not because he is lost — but because God is present.
Joshua’s mallet falls to the ground.
He will not need it again.
And dear friends, this is where every believer must eventually arrive:
The moment you stop swinging
and start surrendering.
The moment you stop performing
and start worshiping.
The moment you stop fixing yourself
and start bowing before the One who makes all things new.
Joshua asks:
“What does my Lord say to His servant?”. —Joshua 5:14
That’s it.
Not “What do You want me to do?”
Not “What’s the plan?”
Not “How do we win?”
Not “Which wall do we attack?”
Not “What’s the strategy?”
Just: “Speak… I am Yours.”
It is the same posture God waited for in Abraham,
the same surrender God sought from Moses,
the same obedience God asked from Mary,
the same posture Jesus embodied in Gethsemane:
“Not My will, but Yours.”
This is the holy ground where every mole is defeated.
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REMOVE YOUR SANDALS — GOD IS NEARER THAN THE BATTLE
The Commander replies:
> “Remove your sandals,
for the place where you stand is holy.”. —Joshua 5:15
Holy ground?
Here?
In enemy territory?
In the shadow of Jericho?
In a land filled with giants?
In the middle of tension?
With uncertainty everywhere?
Yes.
Because holiness is not about location.
It is about Presence.
The ground is holy because God is there.
And some of us need to rediscover this truth:
Holy ground is not found only in sanctuaries.
Holy ground is found wherever God interrupts you.
Holy ground is where He confronts you.
Holy ground is where He comforts you.
Holy ground is where He convicts you.
Holy ground is where He calls you.
Holy ground is where He refuses to let your past define your future.
Holy ground is where He rolls Egypt off your shoulders.
Holy ground is where your Whack-A-Mole season ends
and your Jericho season begins.
Joshua takes off the sandals.
Maybe his hands are trembling.
Maybe his heart is pounding.
Maybe he doesn’t understand everything.
But he knows enough to bow.
He knows enough to worship.
He knows enough to be still.
He knows enough to surrender the fight that belongs to God.
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THE BATTLE WAS NEVER THEIRS
When Joshua meets the Commander, he realizes:
The battle was never theirs.
The victory was never theirs.
The plan was never theirs.
The wall-falling miracle was never theirs.
All they had to do
was walk in obedience
and worship the One who fights for them.
And dear friends, this is where the Whack-A-Mole life ends:
Not when you conquer every habit…
Not when you defeat every temptation…
Not when you silence every fear…
Not when you fix every flaw…
Not when you solve every problem…
Not when you slay every mole…
The Whack-A-Mole life ends
when you realize the battle is not yours.
You were never meant to fight alone.
You were never meant to fix yourself.
You were never meant to carry the burden.
You were never meant to conquer Jericho without Him.
He is the Commander.
He is the Victor.
He is the One with the drawn sword.
And when He stands in front of you…
you don’t fight.
You bow.
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THE APPEAL — WHERE THE MOLES DIE
Today I want to speak to the one who is tired.
The one who has been swinging the mallet for years.
The one who feels like they are fighting the same mole again and again.
The one who wonders why certain battles never disappear.
The one who wants to grow but keeps tripping over old patterns.
The one who longs for Jericho to fall but is stuck fighting the same underground enemies.
Hear the Word of the Lord today:
“Stop swinging.
Start surrendering.”
There is a place — a Gilgal
— where God rolls away the shame.
There is a moment — a painful obedience
— that heals the old wounds.
There is a turning point — the end of manna
— where God calls you to grow.
There is a meeting — with the Commander
— where God takes control.
And there is a holy ground moment
where the Whack-A-Mole Christian becomes
a Warrior of God.
Today is your Gilgal.
Today is your Joshua 5.
Today is the day God rolls away the reproach.
Today is the day the past loses its voice.
Today is the day the shame loses its grip.
Today is the day the mole that has haunted you
is finally laid to rest at the feet of Jesus.
He is the Commander.
He is in front of you.
He is for you.
And He has come to fight what you cannot.
So bow with Joshua.
Remove your sandals.
Let God have your heart.
Let God have your wounds.
Let God have your fear.
Let God have your battles.
Let God have your past.
Let God have your moles.
Jericho will fall —but first,
let us bow before His feet.
