As a child in Sunday school, I remember learning about the story of the Israelites, under the leadership of Joshua, taking the city of Jericho. It was just taught as a fun story of people marching round and round and then blowing trumpets and shouting (that sort of thing always goes down well with children - I wonder why?), but when you read the whole story (Joshua 6) it's definitely not a children's story! As an adult, I don't ever remember hearing a sermon on this story! I'm left wondering why? Has it got any relevance to life in the 21st century and what if anything can it teach me about our journey?
Towards the end of chapter 5, you came across the story of Joshua meeting the commander of the Lord's army who is standing holding a sword. Joshua doesn't know who he is and asks him whose side he's on. When Joshua realises who he's talking to, he falls down and worships and asks what instructions he has for him. God's army commander tells Joshua that he was standing on holy ground and to take his shoes off. It's interesting to see the similarities with the calling of Moses, both see an angel, but they appear in a way that is relevant to them. Joshua is the new leader, but he is a warrior. We first read of him leading a group into battle while Moses stands on a hill overlooking the battle holding his staff aloft (Exodus 17:9), so the angel got his attention by appearing as a warrior with a drawn sword. On the other hand, Moses would be very used to seeing bushes in the course of his role as a shepherd, so the angel got his attention by making the ordinary extraordinary, he also told him to remove his shoes as he was on holy ground.
The angel goes on to tell Joshua Gods master plan on how the Israelites will attack and defeat the fortified city of Jericho. Remember that a few years before, Joshua had been one of the spies who'd been sent into the promised land, so he would have been aware that it was a stronghold that would be difficult for them to capture. In addition, as they were approaching Jericho, he sent a couple of spies into the city to scout out the defences, they were aided to escape by Rahab (Joshua 2). With the information they returned with, he would have used his military experience to make plans of how to lay siege to the city. But here was God giving him the most ridiculous plan in the history of armed conflict.
When reflecting on the story, it's worth remembering that the people of Jericho were scared of the Israelites (as revealed by Rahab to the spies), they'd heard of their victories in battle and how God had parted the Jordan for them and enabled them to cross on dry ground. So their initial reaction when they saw the Israelites advancing on Jericho would have been panic. When they started to circle the city and to march round, they would have been waiting for the battle cry and for them to begin their attack of the city walls, but what happens surprises the cities inhabitants, the Israelites meekly returned to camp. On the second day, again they'd have been scared, thinking the first day was just scouting out the defences and today would see the attack, but again they went away. By the end of day 3 there must have been some confidence returning to the citizens of Jericho, thinking that their defences were impregnable. I imagine that by day 4, the cities inhabitants would have been laughing and jeering at the Israelites as they marched in silence around the city again. But, we all know what happens on day 7!
So what was so special about the plan that was revealed to Joshua? The instructions he was given made no practical sense, but it worked! Why? In the words of Pete Greig (Red Moon Rising): "The power was not in the technique, the power was in Joshua's ludicrous obedience. God is not a mindless dispenser of demolition techniques; He is looking for relationships with those who dare to trust Him against all other odds."
This got me thinking about a more recent example of obedience and trust against the odds. When King George VI called the nation to pray in the face of total defeat by the Germans during World War II, which resulted in the evacuation of thousands of soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk. Even Winston Churchill was known to make reference to the 'Miracle of Dunkirk' and just a few weeks later, the King called a National Day of Thanksgiving. How much courage did it take for the King to make that first broadcast? How much ridicule did he receive? But here was a leader who dared to trust his God against all the odds.
This brings us back to Time2. We believe that God gave us the vision which many view as being absurd due to our lack of resources or experience in running a retreat centre and also due to our age - apparently, we should be starting to slow down as we get closer to 'retirement'. But can we take encouragement from this story? Yes! We need to keep our eyes fixed on what we've been told, to ignore those people who are laughing and jeering at us, and to keep marching around our Jericho, because we believe that our day 7 will soon be here. We're listening out for that trumpet blast, so we can join with those who are with us on this journey, to give a mighty roar as we see the walls falling before us. We know that It won't be anything that we've done, it's his plan and his timing, our part is to trust him.
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