To Restart Requires Faithfully Following God's Word...

This week, we have been looking at one of the most famous stories that is recorded for us in the Bible. Yesterday, we saw discussed how the Jewish people must have been feeling after spending six days silently marching around the city of Jericho.

Then, on the seventh day, they did not march around the city one time; instead they marched around the city six times. And as the soldiers and priests begin lap seven around the city, the silence is finally broken:

At the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city. "The city shall be under the ban, it and all that is in it belongs to the LORD; only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. "But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things under the ban, so that you do not covet them and take some of the things under the ban, and make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it. "But all the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy to the LORD; they shall go into the treasury of the LORD."

Here we see Joshua break the silence by commanding the soldiers to do three things. First, and most obviously, the soldiers were commanded to shout. Second, the soldiers were commanded that the city shall be under the ban. This phrase, under the ban, literally means to be devoted to God and His purposes. In this case, Jericho was devoted to God for destruction. With the exception of Rahab and her family, Jericho was to be raised to the ground and all life destroyed.

After 400 years of extending grace and the opportunity to change, God chose to use the Jewish people as an instrument to exercise His justice and judgment on the people of the Promised Land, who had refused to change and were left with no excuse or defense for their wickedness. As we talked about a few weeks ago, in another section of the Bible God made it clear to the Jewish people that they were not receiving the Promised Land because they were especially good; they were receiving the Promised Land because the inhabitants of that land, including Jericho, were exceptionally evil. In fact, most historians and scholars believe that the society of the inhabitants of the Promised Land was the most evil society that ever existed.

Third, the soldiers were commanded to keep themselves from taking anything from Jericho. What is interesting is here is that the word covet, in the language that this was originally written in, literally means to be devoted to. So in essence, Joshua uses a play on words here in his third command to the Jewish people. Do not become devoted to the things in Jericho that have been devoted to God for destruction; because if you become devoted to that which has been devoted for destruction by God, you will end up placing the Jewish people in the position of being devoted to destruction, along with Jericho.

Everything except the precious metals were to be destroyed, while the precious metals were to go into funding God’s mission to give the Jewish people that land that had been promised to them. We see the soldiers respond to this command in Joshua 6:20-25:

So the people shouted, and priests blew the trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city. They utterly destroyed everything in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword. Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the harlot's house and bring the woman and all she has out of there, as you have sworn to her." So the young men who were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all she had; they also brought out all her relatives and placed them outside the camp of Israel. They burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only the silver and gold, and articles of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD. However, Rahab the harlot and her father's household and all she had, Joshua spared; and she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day, for she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

The Jewish people responded to Joshua’s command and the priests trumpet blast by shouting with a great shout. And at the sound of the shout, the wall of Jericho fell down flat. In other words it did not fall down forward; it did not fall down backward; instead it collapsed on itself.

So, who knocked the wall down? It was the armies of the Lord, led by the Lord Himself who collapsed the wall straight down. The shout of the Jewish nation was the signal for the army of the Lord to spring into action. The Jewish people simply shouted and watched the seemingly impenetrable defenses collapse.

The Jewish army then followed the command of Joshua and made a straight line assault of the city, shoulder to shoulder over the collapsed wall and killed everything that crossed their path. Everything that is, except for Rahab and her family, who remained in her house which was located on the only part of the wall that was not destroyed by the army of the Lord. As per Joshua’s command, everything was destroyed in Jericho except for the precious metals, which were placed as part of the treasury of the Lord and Rahab and her family, who received a new label and identity as part of the family of God.

And in this story, we see that for the Jewish people to restart their life, they needed to demonstrate faithful obedience to God’s word. The Jewish people faithfully followed God’s commands in spite of what their obedience looked like to others. The Jewish people faithfully followed God’s commands even when their obedience did not seem to be leading them in a direction that they wanted to go. The Jewish people faithfully followed God’s commands even when their obedience was not what others would have done in the same situation.

And in the same way today, the timeless reality when it comes to restart our lives is that to restart requires faithfully following God’s word. Restarting our lives requires faithfully following God’s word regardless of what those around us think about the decisions we make when it comes to living our lives. Restarting our lives requires faithfully following God’s word even when we feel like following God’s word is not leading us in the direction that we want to go. Restarting our lives requires faithfully following God’s word regardless of what those around us would do in the same situation.

And when we restart our lives by faithfully following God’s word an doing the right thing even when it is not the easy thing or popular thing to do, we create space for God to do what only He can do. Just like the army of the Lord, when we faithfully follow God’s word, we create space for God to enter into and transform our lives so that we can overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of restarting our lives. We see the results of the Jewish people’s faithful obedience to God’s command in the verses that follow:

Then Joshua made them take an oath at that time, saying, "Cursed before the LORD is the man who rises up and builds this city Jericho; with the loss of his firstborn he shall lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son he shall set up its gates." So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.

As a result of the city of Jericho being devoted to the Lord for destruction, Joshua makes the Jewish nation take an oath to never rebuild the city as a military fortress again. And in case someone did not want to keep this oath, Joshua explains that the curse for disobedience would be devastating and the destruction would be complete for anyone who attempted to rebuild this city.

In addition, as a result of Joshua’s faithful obedience to God’s commands, it was apparent to all of the inhabitants of the Promised Land that God was present and active with Joshua, and his reputation as a leader was evident in the land. And in the same way today, faithfully following God’s word and doing the right thing even when it is not easy or popular results in a life of integrity that can be respected, even by those who do not share your beliefs or convictions.

So how are you doing when it comes to faithfully following God’s word? Where do you need to restart your life when it comes to faithfully following God’s word? Are you faithfully following God’s word regardless of what those around us think about the decisions you make when it comes to living our lives? Are you faithfully following God’s word even when it seems like following God’s word is not leading you in the direction that you want to go? Are you faithfully following God’s word regardless of what those around you would do in the same situation?