And Jericho fell

I have to admit, after years of reading this story, I still find it fascinating. Found in Joshua, we find God performing the amazing through his people.

First off, Jericho was a real city. It had real people, it was surrounded by a real wall. It was solid. Thought to be impenetrable.

I found this kids site which talks about it abit. Christian Answers. This site talks about how archaelogists have proven that everything said in the bible is accurate. I found it useful to acutally picture what the city might have looked like.

So Joshua had the people do just what God had commanded:

8And just as Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the LORD went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the LORD following them. 9The armed men were walking before the priests who were blowing the trumpets, and the rear guard was walking after the ark, while the trumpets blew continually. 10But Joshua commanded the people, "You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout." 11So he caused the ark of the LORD to circle the city, going about it once. And they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.

12Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. 13And the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the LORD walked on, and they blew the trumpets continually. And the armed men were walking before them, and the rear guard was walking after the ark of the LORD, while the trumpets blew continually. 14And the second day they marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. So they did for six days.

Can you imagine?
Just walking. No talking, yelling, screams of defiance, just walking around a city for six days. All the noise heard was the trumpets of the Lord sounding.
Then on the seventh,

15On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. 16And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, "Shout, for the LORD has given you the city.

on the Seventh day you walk seven times, shout loudly AND... the WALLS FELL DOWN!

I find that totally amazing.

Totally shows the power of God over anything that man can create. GOD is WAY Better. it is just too neat this story of God at work AND his people being faithful.

God's way not so easy

So I'm reading the bible readings this morning. Gleaned insight, was left with...but how to I write what I'm thinking about any of this?

Came up with nothing.

As I've thought over the morning, and have a bit of time now (waiting for Justin to settle for his nap), I've been thinking how all that passages I read this morning allude to how doing things God's way isn't always so easy.

For instance Joshua 5 speaks of how the Israelite needed to be circumcised.

2At that time the LORD said to Joshua, "Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time." 3So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth. 4And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt. 5Though all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. 6For the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey the voice of the LORD; the LORD swore to them that he would not let them see the land that the LORD had sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 7So it was their children, whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised. For they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way.

Not exactly a pain free way of obeying God and heeding his will. It laid them up for while.

Then in The Psalms we learn how hard it was for David that God did not have his own place.

1Remember, O LORD, in David's favor,
all the hardships he endured,
2how he swore to the LORD
and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
3"I will not enter my house
or get into my bed,
4I will not give sleep to my eyes
or slumber to my eyelids,
5until I find a place for the LORD,
a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob."

In Isaiah 65 we learn what happens to people who don't follow after God. Especially those who have turned from him.

6Behold, it is written before me:
"I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
I will indeed repay into their bosom
7both your iniquities and your fathers' iniquities together,
says the LORD;
because they made offerings on the mountains
and insulted me on the hills,
I will measure into their bosom
payment for their former deeds."

But it is in Matthew 13 that we really see that God's way is not so easy. Sometimes finding it is a feat in and of itself. Jesus taught in Parables. It's one of the things that he is known for. His disciples asked why?

10Then the disciples came and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" 11And he answered them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:

"'You will indeed hear but never understand,
and you will indeed see but never perceive.
15For this people's heart has grown dull,
and with their ears they can barely hear,
and their eyes they have closed,
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
and turn, and I would heal them.'

But Jesus told the people what they needed to hear. He did reveal all to them.

34All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. 35This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:

"I will open my mouth in parables;
I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world."

And to those of us who do understand, he will say ....

16But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

If we take the time to hear and to understand, and to ask God to help us, we will "get it". God will make his way clear to us. It's as simple as that.

Blessed to be a blessing

Did you know that God blesses us so that we might be a blessing to others?

Jim preached on that yesterday in Church using Psalm 67 as his text.

1May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us,
Selah

2that your way may be known on earth,
your saving power among all nations.
3Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!

Do you see it? We ask God to be gracious and bless us. Why? So that his saving power and His ways are known on the earth. Later in the Psalm we learn that God does bless us. So what we ask for we get....and we get it so that God is glorified.

I was drawn to remember this lesson as I was reading from Joshua 4 this morning. This chapter deals with how the people of God (Israel) would remember what God did for them to help them escape from Egypt. They walked on dry ground through the Jordan. God commands them to gather up 12 stones (one for each tribe) so that their children would know what God did for them.

23For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, 24so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever."

It is important for them to know, so that others might know (aka the world) that The Lord God is Mighty and worthy of being feared. God blessed and helped his people so that the rest of the world might see who HE is.

God gives us, asks us to find ways to remember him. why?

21And he said to the people of Israel, "When your children ask their fathers in times to come, 'What do these stones mean?' 22then you shall let your children know, 'Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.'

And that leads to the world knowing who God is. Because like children, the world wants to know why God is so important to us. Why these things we hold dear are important and what they tell us about about God.

Makes me ask myself... how am I showing the world who God is?
What remembrances am I placing in my life so Justin will ask.... why is this important? What did God do for us here? and so forth.
How do I show who God is to the people in my world?

I have to admit, I don't have the answers right now. I need to change that.