Obeys God Even When It’s Hard

Obeys God Even When It’s Hard

A HERO’S TALE

Joshua and the Israelites were home. Well, sort of.

God had brought them into Canaan, the Promised Land. Now, they had to fight for their territory.

Their first mission: destroy Jericho.

This was no small task. The Canaanites knew Israel was coming. So the city of Jericho was shut up as tightly as possible —nobody in, nobody out.

According to archaeological evidence, ancient Jericho was huge and well fortified. It was about seven football fields long by three football fields wide. Two walls surrounded the city, and the inner one was four-and-a-half-feet thick with at least one stone tower built into it for defense.

As Israel’s army of forty thousand soldiers neared, God told Joshua to do something very strange. He wanted all the soldiers and the priests to march around the city once a day for six days. Four Levites were to carry the Ark of the Covenant (a sacred chest that held the tablets with the Ten Commandments and that symbolized God’s presence with his people), and seven priests were to blow trumpets as they walked. No one else was to make a sound. Then, on the seventh day, after the people marched around the city seven more times, they were all to shout as loudly as possible.

DECODING THE MESSAGE

What a strange command!

In ancient warfare, attacking armies usually laid siege to enemy cities, to starve the people inside until they surrendered, or built ramps to breach their defenses. Nobody ever won a battle by playing music!

Joshua could have responded in any number of ways:

• “God, you want me to do what?”
• “Why can’t we fight?”
• “But God, won’t they laugh at us?”

But Joshua didn’t say any of those things. He just obeyed.

This was a remarkable act of faith on Joshua’s part. God was asking Joshua to trust him and not in the army. Obeying God isn’t always easy, but it’s what we’re called to do.

Joshua knew this. So on the seventh day, when all the Israelites shouted, Jericho’s walls crumbled! God gave Joshua a miraculous victory because he trusted and obeyed God, even when it was hard.

When is it hardest for you to obey God? Is it when your parents ask you to do your least favorite chore? Or when all your friends are planning to do something that you know is wrong? Or when you know you should read your Bible but would rather play video games?

Whatever it is, God will give you victory, too, if you have faith and obey!

BATTLE PLAN

Read the whole story in Joshua 6. Then pray for God to help you when it’s hard to obey, and he will answer!