Joshua 6:1–5 (NKJV) — “Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. 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. 5 It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.”
Israel had crossed the Jordan and entered the territory God had promised them. They had watched God stop the waters so an entire nation could walk across on dry ground. They had established a memorial at Gilgal, renewed their covenant with God, celebrated Passover, and begun eating from the produce of the land. The manna had ceased because their season had changed. Everything about their journey confirmed that they were no longer where they used to be. Then they encountered Jericho.
Jericho was not a small obstacle. It was a fortified city, securely shut up, with walls designed to keep people out. After Egypt, the wilderness, forty years of wandering, and finally crossing the Jordan, Israel could have looked at that wall and wondered, “God, did we come the right way?” Yet Jericho was not evidence that Israel had crossed the wrong Jordan. Jericho was standing inside the territory God had already promised them. Before the priests stepped into the Jordan, God knew Jericho was there. Before the waters stopped flowing, God knew the gates would be shut. The wall did not surprise God, and it did not cancel His promise. That is why God’s words to Joshua are so powerful. While the wall was still standing and the gates were still closed, God said, “See! I have given Jericho into your hand.” God was speaking victory while Joshua was still looking at a wall. He was teaching Joshua to see beyond what was visible and trust what had already been spoken.
Sunshine, hear this today, the wall you see does not cancel the promise God gave you. You have crossed over, but crossing into a new season does not mean you will never encounter resistance. Sometimes you can be exactly where God told you to be and still find yourself standing in front of something that will not move. You may have thought that because God opened the Jordan, there would not be a Jericho. You may have assumed that because He opened the door, everything connected to the opportunity would happen easily. You may have believed that because God gave you the assignment, everyone would understand it, support it, or celebrate it. Then you crossed over and discovered a wall. So, do not let the wall make you question the crossing. The presence of resistance does not automatically mean the absence of God. Difficulty does not automatically mean you made the wrong decision, and an obstacle does not mean God changed His mind. Scripture repeatedly shows us that obedience and opposition can exist in the same place. You can be walking in God’s will and still need courage, patience, wisdom, prayer, and perseverance.
Sometimes faith requires you to hold two truths at the same time, first God called you here, and this may still be difficult. God opened the door, and you may still need wisdom to navigate what is behind it. Secondly, God gave you the vision, and you may not yet have every resource needed to fulfill it. God promised you something, and there may still be resistance between where you are standing and where you are going, but you need to know that difficulties do not invalidate the directions from God.
Faith does not require you to pretend the wall is not there, your faith acknowledges the wall while refusing to give the wall more authority than you give to the Word of God. The obstacle may be real, but the promise is real too. The situation may look impossible from where you stand, but you do not see everything God sees. Perhaps your prayer today needs to become, “God, help me see what You see.” You may see an obstacle while God sees an opportunity to demonstrate His faithfulness. You may see what is missing while God sees what He has already placed in your hands. You may see resistance while God sees the strategy that will bring you through it.
Do not become so focused on the wall that you stop listening for God’s instructions. Israel did not conquer Jericho through a strategy they created themselves. God told them to march around the city once a day for six days. On the seventh day, they were to march seven times, the priests were to sound the trumpets, and at the appointed time the people were to shout. Imagine being prepared to fight and God tells you to walk. Imagine wanting immediate victory and God gives you an instruction that requires you to repeat the same action day after day. That required discipline.
Yesterday you learned that new territory requires new discipline, and now you can see why. Discipline keeps you obedient when you cannot see immediate results. Israel walked on the first day, and the wall remained standing. They walked again on the second day, and nothing visibly changed. By the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth days, the wall still looked the same. They could have assumed that because nothing was happening visibly, nothing was happening at all.
Be careful not to mistake no visible movement for no progress. There will be seasons when you pray and nothing appears to change, when you establish a boundary and the situation still feels uncomfortable, when you begin working on the vision and the numbers do not immediately increase, or when you obey God and the answer still seems delayed. Do not assume your obedience is ineffective simply because the results are not immediate.
Sometimes God is doing something in you while you are walking around what has not changed. He is developing patience, strengthening consistency, deepening trust, sharpening discernment, and teaching you that faith cannot depend entirely upon immediate evidence. You may think you are simply walking around a wall, but every lap may be developing something you will need when the wall comes down. The wall may look the same, but you are not the same.
Israel also had to learn when to remain quiet and when to shout. That speaks to the discipline of your mouth while you are facing resistance. If you continually rehearse the size of the wall, eventually the wall can become larger in your thinking than the God who gave you the promise. Everybody does not need to know what you are facing, every opinion does not need to become part of your decision-making, and every criticism does not require a response. Sometimes spiritual maturity means walking quietly until God tells you it is time to speak. Israel’s shout came at the appointed time, not simply because they became frustrated with walking.
You need that same discernment in new territory. You need to know when to move and when to wait, when to speak and when to remain silent, when to persist and when God is redirecting you, and when to push and when to pray. This is why your prayer remains so important: “God, help me walk the fine line as I pursue the narrow path.” Do not allow fear to disguise itself as wisdom and make you retreat too quickly, but do not allow stubbornness to disguise itself as faith when God is redirecting you. Ask Him for discernment to know the difference.
Before you start trying to tear down every wall yourself, ask God for His strategy. Some walls require prayer, some require preparation, some require patience, some require a conversation, some require silence, and some simply require you to continue doing exactly what God already told you to do. You do not have to manipulate outcomes, force doors, or exhaust yourself trying to accomplish in your own strength what requires God’s strategy. Your responsibility is to remain close enough to Him to hear the next instruction and disciplined enough to obey it. Remember, God said, “I have given Jericho into your hand,” while Jericho still looked completely secure. Heaven had already spoken concerning something earth had not yet revealed. In God’s timing, the wall would fall, and what looked immovable would prove that it was not permanent.
Let that encourage you today. Just because something has been standing for a long time does not mean it will stand forever. Just because you cannot figure out how something will change does not mean God does not have a strategy. Just because you cannot see a door does not mean God needs a door. There is a difference between a wall and a stop sign. Do not confuse the two. Every obstacle is not God’s way of telling you no. Sometimes the obstacle becomes the very place where you discover that the God who opened the Jordan is also the God who can bring down Jericho.
This is where the journey of the past few days comes together. Day One reminded you that you have crossed over and must keep moving forward. Day Two challenged you not to bring Egypt into your promise, because old fear will always try to convince you to return to what is familiar. Day Three taught you that new territory requires new discipline. Now Day Four reminds you that the wall does not cancel the crossing.
God knew Jericho was there before He brought Israel across, and whatever you are facing today has not caught Him by surprise. He knew about the resistance, the closed door, the delay, the resources you would need, the place where you would become tired, and the moment when your faith would be stretched. He knew, and He brought you across anyway. So, today do not spend time staring at the wall and questioning yesterday’s miracle. Ask God what obedience looks like today. Maybe today is not the day for the shout; maybe today is simply another lap. If it is, take the lap. Walk it prayerfully, faithfully, and with the confidence that obedience is never wasted. You may not see the wall moving yet, but God may be moving something in you. Your faith is getting stronger, your hearing is becoming sharper, your discipline is deepening, and your dependence upon Him is increasing.
When God says, “Now,” you will be ready. The wall may still look strong, the gate may still appear closed, and the situation may still look impossible, but you do not have to wait until the wall falls to believe God is faithful. You have crossed over. You are in the territory. You have encountered resistance. Now seek His strategy. Do not run back toward the Jordan because Jericho appeared. The same God who opened the water knew the wall was waiting on the other side. Don’t let the wall make you question the crossing. Keep listening, keep obeying, and keep moving toward the promise.
Let’s Pray:
Father, in the name of Jesus, thank You for bringing me across. Thank You for every Jordan You opened, every place You made a way where I could not see one, and every moment when You proved that what looked impossible to me was never impossible for You. Today, I acknowledge that there have been moments when the walls in front of me caused me to question the crossing behind me. There have been times when resistance made me wonder whether I heard You correctly, and difficulty caused me to question whether I was truly walking in Your direction. Forgive me for the times I allowed what I could see to become louder than what You had already spoken. Father, remind me that You knew about Jericho before You ever opened the Jordan. Nothing I am facing today has surprised You. The wall did not catch You off guard, the closed gate did not change Your plan, and the resistance did not cause You to reconsider what You spoke. Help me not to interpret every obstacle as a command to retreat. Give me discernment to know the difference between resistance that requires perseverance and redirection that requires surrender. I do not want stubbornness disguised as faith, but I also refuse to allow fear to disguise itself as wisdom. Before I create my own strategy, teach me to seek Yours. If You tell me to pray, I will pray. If You tell me to prepare, I will prepare. If You tell me to wait, give me patience to wait without becoming anxious. If You tell me to move, give me courage to move without hesitation. If You tell me to speak, give me the right words, and if You tell me to remain silent, give me discipline over my mouth. If today’s instruction is simply to take another lap, give me grace to walk it faithfully. Father, deliver me from the need for immediate evidence. Teach me to obey when I cannot yet see results. When I have prayed and nothing appears to have changed, keep me faithful. When I have obeyed and the wall still looks the same, remind me that obedience is accomplishing something even when I cannot see it. Do not allow me to quit on day six because I do not yet know what You have prepared for day seven. Guard my mouth while I am walking around my walls. Keep me from speaking defeat over something You told me to approach in faith. Keep me from rehearsing the obstacle until it becomes larger in my thinking than You. Give me wisdom concerning who needs to know what I am carrying and who does not need access to this part of my journey. Teach me that silence is not weakness when silence is obedience. Father, help me walk the fine line as I pursue the narrow path. Give me wisdom to know when to move and when to wait, when to speak and when to remain quiet, when to persist and when to release, when to push and when to pray. I need Your voice more than I need my own strategy. Where I have made the wall bigger than You in my mind, correct my perspective. The obstacle may be real, but so is Your power. The gate may be closed, but You are not limited by closed gates. What appears immovable to me is still subject to You. Help me see beyond what my natural eyes are showing me. Where I see impossibility, help me recognize opportunity. Where I see resistance, help me listen for strategy. Where I see delay, show me what You are developing in me. Where I see a wall, remind me that there is territory on the other side. Father, I declare that I will not go backward simply because forward became difficult. I will not run back toward the Jordan because Jericho appeared. I will not allow an obstacle in my new season to make me romanticize an old season You already brought me out of. Egypt is still behind me, the Jordan is behind me, the promise is still ahead, and Your presence is still with me. God until the wall falls, teach me to walk in obedience. Until the answer comes, keep me faithful. Until the door opens, keep me listening. Until I understand the strategy, keep me close to You. I trust Your wisdom, Your timing, Your voice, and Your power. You brought me across knowing the wall would be here. Therefore, I choose to believe that You also know how to bring me beyond it. In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Nugget ~ Do not let today’s wall make you question yesterday’s crossing. The God who opened the Jordan already knew Jericho was waiting on the other side. Resistance does not automatically mean you missed God, and no visible movement does not mean your obedience is producing nothing. Sometimes the wall remains standing while God strengthens the person walking around it. Seek His strategy, guard your mouth, remain disciplined, and keep obeying. You crossed over for a reason, and the wall does not cancel the promise.
Blessings…
Love, Dr. Jean…
Discover more from Transformed at the WELL Devotional Ministry
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
