When you hear the priests give one long blast on the rams’ horns, have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the town will collapse, and the people can charge straight into town. —Joshua 6:5 NLT
We live in a time-crunched culture. We see the shortest distance to travel is a straight line, not a repetitive circle.
Speaking to travel, this has happened to each of us. We leave the house on time but realize ten minutes into the journey that we forgot something needed. Yeah. Ouch. We must go back. That beautiful, on time schedule we could have had is gone.
How we use that extra time we are forced to take puts us right into the story of Joshua and the people of Israel. The people Joshua deftly leads are commanded to circle the city of Jericho 13 times. No one would consider this the short route, yet that is what God calls them to do.
And they follow. Circle after circle after circle. Because they follow—because they obey—they have complete success.
This story is about obedience to God, not the convenience of our timeframe. Whether conquering the Canaanites or settling a new land, God’s people are required to do the will of God in God’s way, not our own.
We have plenty of time to think about this as we drive back home, get what we needed, and take the same path again.
PRAYER: Dear Lord, we may never hear priests giving long blasts on rams’ horns reminding us whose schedule we follow—Yours, not ours—but when we do have to double back, we pray we are open to hearing You, our leader. Amen.