Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.
Then the Lord said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in."
So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it." And he ordered the people, "Advance! March around the city, with the armed guard going ahead of the ark of the Lord."
When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the Lord went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the Lord's covenant followed them. The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. But Joshua had commanded the people, "Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!" So he had the ark of the Lord carried around the city, circling it once. Then the people returned to camp and spent the night there.
Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the Lord and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets kept sounding. So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.
On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the people, "Shout! For the Lord has given you the city! The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury."
When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city. They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.
Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the prostitute's house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her." So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.
Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord's house. But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.
At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: "Cursed before the LORD is the man who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho:
"At the cost of his firstborn son will he lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest will he set up its gates."
So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.
Joshua 6
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As I got up this morning, I went out and got into my Jeep Liberty to go to work. When I started the car, an alarm went off and I got a low pressure alarm light and message. Something was amiss.
So I got out and checked my tires and sure enough, the left rear tire was going flat. Thank goodness I did have enough air left in the tire to get to the gas station and inflate it back up to pressure but it wasn’t more than five hours later when I had to go off base when the alarm came back on. With 75,000 plus miles on my tires, I decided it was time to replace them so I made an appointment to get the done this evening.
I arrive at the tire store and wait in the lounge as they take my car in. I started to edit some evaluations when a lady came into the lounge and sat down. I said hello and we started to have a conversation. Of course, I started to talk about the Lord eventually and was thankful she was a believer as well. She shared with me that she was a nurse and then shared an awesome testimony that amazingly was in line with what I was writing about tonight.
It seems that this woman had run over a nail that punctured her tire. She called the same tire store that I did and they said it would be nearly $100 to replace the tire…$100 she didn’t have. So she asked if they could just fix it. They said they could but it would cost $20 and she said she would bring it in which is why she was there talking with me.
Then she told me the amazing part of all this. After she was off the phone with the tire place, she was tending to a patient when a woman came to her in a lot of distress. She needed some immediate attention so the woman I was speaking with made the time to tend to the lady in need. In gratitude for what the nurse had done, the lady gave her a gift. Yes…you guessed it…$20…just what she needed to get her tire fixed.
Now…this woman didn’t have any idea that the lady was going to give her that $20. She wasn’t helping her for that reason. She was helping her because she had a heart like Jesus…a heart that was ready to serve others in need when the need arised. She did what was natural for her…and the Lord did what was natural for Him. He blessed her.
All and all, what’s totally amazing about this story, my encounter with this woman and the scripture for today is that they have one important thing in common. They were all part of God’s plan.
As we look toward Joshua, Chapter 6, we see Joshua receiving instruction from the Lord and it was pretty interesting instruction at that. For we see the Lord tell Joshua to form a processional group to march around the perimeter of Jericho…a city that was “tightly shut up” hoping they could maybe ward off the inevitable…their destruction at the hands of God and Israel.
The procession was to start with “the armed guard” who marched ahead of the seven priests who were each sounding a trumpet made from a ram’s horn. After the trumpeting priests were the priests who carried the ark of the covenant and then finally there was the rear guard which followed the ark. Once everyone was gathered together on the day God commanded, Joshua called the priests and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it." He followed this with another order, this time for the people as he exclaimed, "Advance! March around the city, with the armed guard going ahead of the ark of the Lord." And the procession did as commanded, making one round of the city walls before returning to camp. They would repeat this act for five more days, six in all.
On the seventh day, the routine was to be slightly different. The procession was to walk around the city seven times with the trumpets sounding the entire time. Then on the seventh lap, there was to be a “long blast on the trumpets” and “all the people” were to “give a loud shout”…a shout that would cause “the wall of the city” to collapse, exposing Jericho and its people to Israel’s invasion.”
So the procession set out on the seventh day and did exactly what the Lord had commanded, and scripture tells us that after the trumpets sounded their long blast, the people loudly shouted and the wall of Jericho came crashing down. Then Israel then sent “every man charg(ing) straight in, and they took the city”, devoting “the city to the Lord’ and destroying every living thing in it — men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys”. No one was spared with the exception of Rahab and her family who survived due to the protection she provided to the spies who had scouted Jericho in advance. We read where Rahab and her family were allowed to join the people of Israel, a reward for her act of service to the Lord.
Through this scripture and the testimony of the woman at the tire store, we see clearly that God always has a plan. After all He is God. And we see that His plan nearly always goes in ways that we could never have imagined or planned ourselves.
For example, if Israel were left to plan their attack of Jericho, do you think they would have formed a procession and marched around the walls of the city once a day with trumpets blaring for six consecutive days and then do it seven times on the seventh day before shouting out and bringing down the walls? No way. Anyone who would have brought forth that plan would have been seen as crazy. Anyone except God that is.
And we see where Joshua and Israel never question God’s plan. They don’t stop and say, ”God are you sure this will work?” No…they carry out His plan obediently and in return, they are rewarded with victory over Jericho through the God who brought down the walls of the fortified city just as He had miraculously parted the Jordan days earlier.
Likewise, the woman who was blessed with the $20 never questioned God’s plan either. God knew the woman’s need before she did and set circumstances in motion where she would be blessed if she followed His plan…a plan that involved caring for someone in need, even when it meant interrupting everything she was doing at the time. The Lord placed it on her heart to help the woman in need and she obeyed Him. In return, He blessed her and she received the bounty of His blessings…granted not a city like Israel but instead, just what she needed at the time.
Friends, we need to always remember this lesson today. God has a plan…and it is most often far beyond anything we could ever contrive on our own. With this, we shouldn’t try and figure it out because we aren’t anywhere as smart as the Lord…not even close. No…we should only allow God to lead and guide us each and every day, praying for His will and way to be done in our lives and responding to Him in faith and trust. If we relinquish control of our lives to Him and follow His lead, then we, like Israel and the woman at the tire store, will experience the awesome blessings God has in store for each of us. Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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