We are helpless without a clean water supply. We need that water. It is essential. In fact, most people will say that you can only last about 3 day without water. Water sustains life and without it we are helpless.
That's how the people of Jericho felt. They were under a curse - a curse that God placed on Jericho at the time of Joshua. That curse seemed to extend to their water - it was bad. And the people of Jericho were helpless to fix this curse, instead they were condemned to live under it.
As hopeless as the people of Jericho felt, the curse they were living under was nothing compared to the curse that sin had cast over us all. The curse of sin was over all people of many generations and it led to death (Genesis 5 testifying to that truth). How helpless!
But, just as the Lord cleansed the water supply in Jericho, so also has he cleansed us by his blood. His own Son, Jesus took the contamination of sin on his shoulders and suffered and died. He reversed the curse and purified us from all sin.
