“And the walls came tumbling down”

The walls of Jericho came tumbling down…and Joshua led God’s people into the city of Jericho. Ever feel like you are going in circles, around and around, a holding pattern of sorts? It’s hard waiting for God’s promises. His time is not our time and our time is not His time. So we walk around and around waiting for the walls to come tumbling down in anticipation of entering and receiving His promises.

I don’t mind surprises, but I sure don’t like waiting. As I wait, I tend to run scenarios in my head of how I think things will play out; it’s like a bunch of short movie clips. And to my surprise, it never really looks like anything I created in my mind. God’s ways are not my ways and His thoughts are not my thoughts. God asked the Israelites to move frequently in their 40 years of wandering. The Israelites must have wondered as they wandered. Was it hard for them to move? Did they trust where the Lord was leading them? Were they nervous about heading out to a new place? Did they get comfortable and set in their ways and dread another move? After many moves, did they grumble and complain, here we go again? Or were they excited at the possibility of moving closer to the promise?

I feel like an Israelite. I relate to them as I have asked many times, how much longer, where to next, are we there yet, what’s the point in all this? Sometimes I just plain cry out to the Lord, is there a point? I know that there is, but when I get tired of being in a holding pattern, I forget about the gift of patience that I’m suppose to exercise. There is purpose to our waiting. There are things accomplished in the holding pattern. As I look back on periods of waiting, I can clearly see what the Lord was working on. There is growing and maturing in waiting. There is practice of obedience, self-control and complete dependency on Him. It’s easy to run in the direction we want to run in, but it may be so far off the mark from what the Lord has for us that we may never reach the “city.” When I have moved ahead of the Lord’s time it hasn’t gone that well. Again, my ways are not His ways. There is a beautiful time of seeking and drawing closer to Him in the midst of waiting as we journey together on the path.

We may not know where the path will lead or when the “city” will appear. There may be many “cities” He wishes to show us along the way. We may have to stop outside the city walls and wait, for the time may not be right, just yet, to enter in. It took obedience on the part of Joshua to follow the Lord and His plan. Perhaps Joshua was puzzled at the Lord’s instructions to march around the city for 7 days with trumpets blowing as a means to capture the city, but nonetheless, he was obedient. How the Israelites must have been astonished when the fortifying city walls came tumbling down. What God promised, He delivered!

Forty years had passed since the Israelites had fled Egypt. They waited a long time to claim God’s promise land. Entry into the city is not always as we would plan. And, it appears that there is a lot more waiting than what we may anticipate. However, obedience is still key and patience is even more essential. But, oh how glorious when the wall that separates us from the “city” comes tumbling down and there we stand in front of the promise land in awe and wonder.