It seems no sooner than we determined to live for the Lord
and be obedient to His will that the devil places a Jericho in our path. Here
in Joshua 5, Joshua is out to look over Jericho, because Jericho is a very
formidable city, a great citadel fortress that stood before the children of
Israel and the land of promise. It was a great city, great in antiquity, one of
the oldest known inhabited cities on the face of the earth. But not only was it
great in antiquity; it was great in iniquity, it was a wicked, godless, sensual
city. But it was also great in fortification, it had great walls that chariots
could ride abreast encircling the city.
It was in the eyes of men, and by military strategy, an
impregnable fortress. It like looked there was no way that Israel could take
Jericho. In each of our lives the devil has placed a very special Jericho, and
it looms before us as an impossible barrier that stands between us and the
fulfillment that we feel that God wants for us in this life. There's a Jericho
that stands between us and the dreams of our youth. There's a Jericho that
stands before us, and between us and the will of God for our lives. There seems
to be a Jericho that stands between us and the very best ambition of our
hearts.
What is your Jericho? For some of us, it may be an
unhealthy body. For others, it may be an unhappy marriage. For others, it may
be an unholy life. For some, it may be old age; for some, a lack of education;
for some, past defeats; for some, fear. There just seems to be something in our
lives, insurmountable, something that we cannot overcome, some fortress that
seems to keep us from conquering the land that our God has given us.
And, when you face your Jericho, you can do one of two
things: You can turn around, and go back, and die in the wilderness of
unbelief; or else, you can do as Joshua did, and you can face that fortress by
faith, and conquer it.
What was the victory of Jericho? It was a victory of faith.
It is faith, nothing more, nothing less, that will achieve the victory in our
lives. Here is the lesson in all of the Book of Joshua. Do you want to learn
the lesson today? Do you want me to give you Joshua in a sentence? Victory is
not achieved by fighting; it is received by faith. That's the lesson we must
learn. Victory is not achieved by fighting. Victory is received by faith. When
God has a gigantic task that He wants performed, He gives faith the contract.
Faith is very wonderful, because it is faith, that links our nothingness to
God's Almightiness. And that makes all the difference.
Joshua first had a face-to-face confrontation with the Lord
Jesus Christ. He saw the Man, the Conqueror, with the drawn sword Who's not
come to take sides; the One who's come to take over. If you want victory in
your life, stop trying to get God on your side. Get on God's side! God hasn't
come to take sides; He's come to take over. And, you will never know faith, you
will never know victory, and your Jericho will never fall, until you do as
Joshua did. You lay your sword at His feet, and bow yourself prostrate at His
feet, and worship Him. And, when you do that, Jericho is no longer your
problem. It becomes God's problem. And, that makes the difference, when you can
turn that Jericho over to the One who has come to take over.
Joshua had been problem-conscious; and now, no longer is he
problem-conscious—he is God conscious. He lies in the dust before the Lord.
And, he's not thinking, now, of why it can't be done. He knows that it must be
done. It will be done. When Joshua met the Lord, he discovered that the battle
was the Lord's and He had already overcome the enemy. All Joshua had to do was
listen to God's Word and obey orders, and God would do the rest. God had
already given Jericho to Israel (Josh. 6:2); all they had to do was step out by
faith and claim the victory by obeying the Lord.
May the Lord give us grace to by faith face our Jericho
today!
