Doing it God's Way

"Now the gates of Jericho were tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites. No one was allowed to go in or out. But the LORD said to Joshua, 'I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its mighty warriors.'" Joshua 6:1-2 NLT

The first obstacle in Israel's path to possessing the land of promise was the strongly fortified city of Jericho. But God said, "I have given you Jericho." When God promises, He delivers! However Scripture He reminds us, "My thoughts are completely different from yours. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine" (Isaiah 55:8 NLT). God doesn't always do things the way we would do it if we were in charge.

God's method for taking Jericho was one of the strangest battle plans in the history of warfare. March around the city seven days, blow trumpets, and shout??? Wouldn't it be a much more reasonable strategy to catapult rocks into the walls, send repeated barrages of flaming arrows over the wall, and then put ladders against the crumbling walls to scale them? God does things differently than we might do them but His ways are effective for accomplishing His purposes. In this case it was as important for the people to learn trust and obedience as it was to conquer Jericho. When God's ways don't make sense or our ways seem more reasonable will we trust and obey Him anyway? This is the critical question that makes all the difference.

Father, I want to trust Your ways and obey Your commands even when they go against my own reason and the ways of this world. Help me to learn to trust and obey today.

I'm praying for you.
Pastor Mark